Effectiveness of the dwell-on-red signal treatment to improve pedestrian safety during high-alcohol hours

The Dwell-on-Red (DoR) signal treatment aims to reduce the number and severity of pedestrian-vehicle crashes that occur during high-alcohol hours (HAH) at signalised intersections. The treatment involves reverting to an all-red phase when there is no traffic demand during late evening and early morning. This causes vehicles to slow down or stop thereby reducing average speeds on intersection approaches. Lower speed is known to be beneficial to traffic safety particularly for vulnerable road-users. DoR was trialled at a metropolitan intersection in Melbourne. An observational study was carried out at this intersection and revealed a number of serious safety problems during late evening hours. As part of the evaluation of effectiveness speed and flow data were collected using detectors placed 10 and 50 metres upstream of the stop-line. The treatment was found to bring about a significant reduction in average speed at both detector positions. Significant changes were also found in the proportions of vehicles travelling at less than or equal to 30 km/h and greater than 50 km/h at the 10 metre detector position, and for speeds greater than 50 km/h at the 50 metre detector position. These findings indicate a potential reduction in fatal and serious injury risk. While DoR has a minimal impact on traffic performance, its effectiveness was found to be heavily dependent on traffic-flow. This aspect has an important bearing on future applications. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217612.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1876346566
• Authors:
  • ARCHER, J
  • CANDAPPA, N
  • CORBEN, B
• Publication Date: 2008-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 14P
• Monograph Title: Road safety 2008: safer roads, safer speeds, safer people, safer vehicles: Australasian Road Safety Research Policing Education Conference, 9th-12th November 2008, Adelaide, Australia
• Serial:
  • AUSTRALASIAN ROAD SAFETY RESEARCH POLICING EDUCATION CONFERENCE, 2008, ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA
  • Publisher: South Australia Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Crashes; Intersections; Pedestrians; Prevention; Red interval (Traffic signal cycle); Safety; Speed; Traffic control; Traffic signal cycle; Traffic signals
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 8525: Conference; 576: Cycle (traffic signals); 455: Junction; 1733: Pedestrian; 9149: Prevention; 539: Red light; 1665: Safety; 5408: Speed; 654: Traffic control; 565: Traffic signal
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01131668
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: TRL
• ISBN: 1876346566
• Files: ITRD, ATRI
• Created Date: Jul 2 2009 7:27AM