Analysis of Effects of LED Rectangular Rapid-Flash Beacons on Yielding to Pedestrians in Multilane Crosswalks

Abstract

This study examined the effects of LED rectangular rapid-flash yellow beacons (RRFBs) in uncontrolled marked crosswalks in three experiments. In Experiment 1, the RRFB system was evaluated with a two- and a four-beacon system at four multilane crossings. Results showed a marked increase in motorist yielding behavior over the baseline for the two-beacon system and a small but statistically significant further increase with the four-beacon system. The second experiment compared a traditional pedestrian overhead yellow flashing beacon and a traditional side-mounted yellow flashing beacon with the RRFB system. The results showed that the traditional overhead and side-mounted yellow flashing beacons produced a minimal increase in yielding, whereas the RRFB system produced a marked increase in yielding behavior. A third experiment examined the effectiveness of the RRFB system at 19 sites in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as three additional sites, two in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, and one in the Washington, D.C., area. Results indicated that baseline daytime yielding behavior increased from an average of 2% to 86% at the 19 St. Petersburg sites and was 85% at the 2-year follow-up. A time-series intervention regression modeling was employed that estimated the parameters of the model based on a double bootstrap methodology. The results of this analysis confirmed a highly significant level change following the introduction of the RRFB that showed no sign of decay over time. Similar results were obtained at the District of Columbia and Chicago suburb sites. Probe data collected after dark revealed an even larger effect with yielding levels at the middle to high 90% level.