Improving Crosswalk Safety: Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacon (RRFB) Trial in Calgary

In 2011, 323 injury and fatality collisions involving pedestrians occurred within the city of Calgary. Even though pedestrian vehicle interaction will always pose a level of risk, pedestrian safety is improved with the use of active crossing devices which include signs, pavement markings, and push-button activated overhead flashers. The rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) is an innovative alternative to the traditional pedestrian-activated overhead flasher assembly. Installed below the sidemounted pedestrian crosswalk signs, RRFBs use dual rectangular LED lights to display intermittent rapid flashes. The RRFBs achieve significant cost savings as they are solar powered and use a wireless connection for communication between the terminals. RRFBs have been evaluated in the United States with positive results; however, no installations or evaluations have taken place in Canada. This paper describes the RRFB Pilot Project undertaken by the City of Calgary to assess motorist yielding behaviour and the performance of the solar power systems. The before-and-after studies using staged crossings revealed that the RRFBs increased yielding compliance at all six crosswalks reaching nearly 100 percent compliance in majority of cases. Motorist yielding increased between 5 and 26 percent, depending on site, with an average of 15 percent. The findings were statistically significant at the 95 percent confidence interval at five of six locations. The performance of the solar power system during winter conditions was found to be satisfactory. (A) For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD record 201309RT334E.

• Corporate Authors:

  INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERS. DISTRICT 7 CANADA

  ,    
• Authors:
  • DOMARAD, J
  • GRISAK, P
  • Bolger, J
• Conference:
  • CALGARY 2013 - THE MANY FACES OF TRANSPORTATION
  • Location: Calgary Alberta, Canada
  • Date: 2013-4-7 to 2013-4-10
• Publication Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 10 p.
• Monograph Title: Calgary 2013 - The Many Faces of Transportation - Technical Compendium

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Conferences; Crosswalks; Drivers; Evaluation; Field tests; Flashing traffic signals; Safety; Tests; Traffic signals
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• ITRD Terms: 9001: Behaviour; 8018: Canada; 8525: Conference; 1772: Driver; 9020: Evaluation (assessment); 514: Flashing light; 6226: In situ; 1659: Pedestrian crossing; 1665: Safety; 6255: Test; 565: Traffic signal
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01494282
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)
• Files: ITRD, TAC
• Created Date: Sep 24 2013 12:59PM