An Investigation of Pedestrian Signals to Reduce Intersection Crashes and Red Light Violations for Elderly Drivers

Signalized intersections are designed to reduce the number of traffic conflicts by separating conflicting movements at an intersection. However, signalized intersections are known to have high likelihood of crash occurrences compared to other sections of the roadway. Decisions made by the drivers who are in dilemma zone are sometimes aided by upstream warning signals. Pedestrian signals have the potential of serving as warning signals as pedestrian green time coincides with the green time for corresponding traffic movement. For the elderly drivers, the decision making process is crucial since their perception reaction is longer than the average perception reaction time experienced by younger drivers. This study wishes to investigate the potential of utilizing pedestrian signals as warning signals and their impacts on driver's perception reaction time, specifically the elderly. This study will analyze intersections in Florida with different types of pedestrian signals and evaluate their effectiveness as it pertains to movement of traffic to assist with the reduction of crashes especially elderly crashes and red light violations. Additionally, the study will utilize questionnaire survey to gain insight of how drivers utilize pedestrian signals as warning signals.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $243000
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Office of the Secretary
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Tucker-Thomas, Dawn

• Performing Organizations:

  Florida State University, Tallahassee

  217 Westcott Building
  Tallahassee, FL  United States  32306-
• Principal Investigators:

  Kobelo, Doreen

• Start Date: 20150105
• Expected Completion Date: 20160805
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
• Subprogram: Research

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged drivers; Pedestrian actuated controllers; Prevention; Reaction time; Red light running; Signalized intersections; Traffic safety; Traffic violations; Warning signals
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01604537
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Center for Accessibility and Safety for an Aging Population
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 1 2016 12:41PM