Increased Pedestrian Safety and Decreased Motorist Delay with a Hawk Pedestrian Signal

A recent, major research study by the Texas Transportation Institute has shown that traffic signals at pedestrian crossings are by far the most effective - arguably the only effective-means of decreasing pedestrian risk of death or injury at pedestrian crossings. The US Access Board, in its role of developing and enforcing guidelines that will likely become enforceable ADA standards, will require pedestrian signals at all roundabouts with two or more lanes. Kansas is a leading state in promoting roundabouts and should be looking toward meeting this requirement. Pedestrian signals, particularly at mid-block crossings and at roundabouts, cause motorist delay. In many cases at a pedestrian signal, a pedestrian pushes the button and then runs or quickly crosses the street as soon as the walk appears (sometimes even before) and motorists are still facing several seconds of a solid red ball and by law must remain stopped. On a busy street a queue of vehicles waiting after a pedestrian has crossed can amount to hundreds of hours of unnecessary delay. However, there is an experimental pedestrian signal, the HAWK, which can significantly reduce this delay while still proving safety to pedestrians. It is used in Europe and in one experimental location in the USA. With the HAWK signal a driver gets the red ball as the pedestrian gets the walk indication as with a regular signal; however, after a few seconds into the pedestrian walk phase the red ball facing the driver goes to flashing red for the final seconds of the walk phase and the driver may proceed if the crosswalk is clear, i.e. the pedestrian(s) has(have) crossed. The HAWK appears to be the pedestrian signal "of the future" at mid-block pedestrian crossings and multi-lane roundabouts and needs more study.

• Record URL:
  http://transport.ksu.edu/research/KSUTC-08-5.pdf

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $35000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  RE-040-05; HPD-R043

  KSUTC-08-5

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Kansas State University Transportation Center

  Kansas State University
  Department of Civil Engineering
  Manhattan, KS  United States  66506

  Kansas Department of Transportation

  Eisenhower State Office Building
  700 SW Harrison Street
  Topeka, KS  United States  66603-3754
• Project Managers:

  Stokes, Robert

• Performing Organizations:

  Kansas State University Transportation Center

  Kansas State University
  Department of Civil Engineering
  Manhattan, KS  United States  66506
• Principal Investigators:

  Russell, Eugene

• Start Date: 20050810
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20120531
• Source Data: RiP Project 15282

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Pedestrian actuated controllers; Pedestrian movement; Pedestrian safety; Research projects; Roundabouts; Traffic signals
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01462765
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Kansas State University Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: RE-040-05; HPD-R043, KSUTC-08-5
• Files: UTC, RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 2:10PM