Safety Effectiveness of Pedestrian Crossing Enhancements

Abstract

Over the last decade, the Oregon DOT and other agencies have systematically implemented many pedestrian crossing enhancements (PCEs) across the state. This study explored the safety performance of these enhanced crossing in Oregon. Detailed data were collected on 191 crossings. Supplemental data items included crossing location information, route characteristics, surrounding land use and crossing enhancement descriptions. Pedestrian volume at the crossing locations was a highly desirable but unavailable data element. To characterize pedestrian activity, a method was developed to estimate ranges for pedestrian crosswalk activity levels based on the land use classification at the census block level and the presence of pedestrian traffic generators such as bus stops, schools, shopping centers and hospitals within a 0.25-mile radius. Each crosswalk was categorized into one of six levels of activityvery low, low, medium-low, medium, mediumhigh and high. Crash data for the 2007-2014 period were assembled for the safety analysis. After filtering, 62 pedestrian crashes and 746 rear-end crashes were retained for further analysis. The crash data were merged and analyzed. Crash patterns and risk ratios were explored. The most important trend observed was a shift (reduction) in the pedestrian crash severity after the installation of the crosswalk treatments. This shift was from fatal and injury A crash type to lower severity crashes of injury B and injury C. For pedestrian crashes, increases in the risk ratio were observed for increases in the number of lanes, the posted speed, and estimated pedestrian activity level. Similar trends were observed for rear-end crashes. Due to data limitations, subsequent safety analysis focused on installations of RRFB crossing enhancements. A CMF for RRFB installations was estimated. The CMFS for pedestrian crashes are 0.64 +/-0.26 using a simple before-after analysis; for rear-end crashes: 0.93 +/-0.22 using an empirical Bayes analysis approach.

Signs and Pedestrian Safety in Automated Transportation Systems

“…Recent studies about pedestrian safety around the country focus on how to prevent casualties [5][6][7]. Researchers analyzed the different safety elements including rapid flashing beacons, flashing yellow beacons, and high visibility crosswalk marking [5]. The implementations of these elements had significant increases in pedestrian safety.…”

“…The implementations of these elements had significant increases in pedestrian safety. The analysis of the before-after crash patterns showed a reduction in the pedestrian crash severity after the installation of the crosswalk enhancements [5]. Approximately 93% of participants in a study noticed the difference between pedestrian countdown signals and standard pedestrian signals [6].…”

“…The participants stated that they prefer the pedestrian countdown signal and feel safer when they could ascertain the time left for crossing the roads. This shows that the increased implementations of signs and visible signals for pedestrians and drivers can lower crash severity and help pedestrians feel safer [5,6]. This research implements simulations for the pedestrian safety analysis at intersections with intention to show if signs and signals can lower pedestrian severity risk.…”

“…The assumption is that the intersections with less signage would have less driver compliance than those with traffic lights and pedestrian signals [4][5][6].…”

“…The variables in the study include the vehicles as the dependent variable and the situations of signage and pedestrian decisions as the independent variables [6,7]. In addition, this research assumes that all vehicles are driving at approximately the speed limits of the particular city [5][6][7]. With some intersections being very busy, the authors accurately conducted the research only on the busiest side of the intersection.…”