Pedestrian hybrid beacon signals: Identifying characteristics associated with negative consequences to reduce danger at mid-block locations

Abstract

The focus of this paper is on an evaluation of negative consequences due to the installation of pedestrian hybrid beacon (PHB) signals and to identify associated characteristics to proactively plan and reduce danger at mid-block locations. Data for thirteen mid-block locations with a PHB signal in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina was gathered to conduct before-after analysis using Empirical Bayes (EB) method. Data for fifty-nine mid-block locations without a PHB signal or similar treatment was considered as control locations for developing a safety performance function (SPF). The on-network characteristics were considered as the predictor variables, while the number of all crashes from 2011 to 2013 was considered as the dependent variable. The SPF was validated using 2014 data. A calibration factor was applied to estimate the number of all crashes at each PHB location. The results obtained from before-after EB analysis showed that the actual number of all crashes are relatively higher after the installation of PHB signals at five out of the thirteen PHB signal locations when compared with the estimated number of all crashes, had the PHB signal not been installed. Pearson correlation coefficients were estimated and used to examine the relationship between the number of all crashes and predictor variables such as demographic, socio-economic, land use, and on-network characteristics within the vicinity of each PHB signal location. The findings indicate that installing PHB signals at mid-block locations along high traffic volume, high-speed and wide roads, and, near office, multi-family, retail, and vertical mixed land use areas will lead to an increase in the number of all crashes after its installation.