Synthesis of Safety for Traffic Operations - Transports Canada

Synthesis of Safety for Traffic Operations March 2003
Flashing Beacons with Supplementary Signs
Van Houten (unpublished)
Van Houten (unpublished) examined the effects of pedestrian-activated flashing beacons
supplemented with traffic signs on vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at two locations in
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. The activated beacons, which have been in solo use, are amber
in colour, and suspended over the crosswalk. A sign placed on the pole displayed the
message “PRESS BUTTON TO ALERT MOTORISTS.” The beacons continued to flash
for 35 seconds once activated.
The beacons were supplemented with an internally illuminated pictogram of a pedestrian
(pictogram) that was placed between the two flashing beacons, and advance warning
signs (advance sign) displaying a pictogram of a pedestrian, and the legend “YIELD
WHEN FLASHING”. One site was located at an intersection, and the other was a
midblock crosswalk linking a major community recreation facility with a convention
centre. Both crosswalks traversed a divided six-lane street with a speed limit of 50 km/h.
No indication of site selection procedures is provided.
The safety impacts were measured by proportion of pedestrians who activated the
beacons, yielding behaviour of drivers, and vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. As we are
unaware of any research that definitively links activations and yielding behaviour to crash
occurrence, only the conflict data is reported in this report. A vehicle-pedestrian conflict
was scored whenever:
• a motorist had to engage in abrupt audible braking, or change lanes abruptly to
avoid striking a pedestrian; or
• a pedestrian had to jump or suddenly step back to avoid being struck by a vehicle.
The researchers controlled for exposure by examining 48 pedestrians per day, who
crossed when traffic was present. The results of the study are shown in Table 6.4.
TABLE 6.4: Traffic Conflicts at Different Crosswalk Treatments
Traffic Conflicts per session
Traffic Control
Location
1 2
Beacon Only 1.0 3.0
Beacon+Pictogram 0.91 N/A*
Beacon+Advance Sign N/A* 0.37
Beacon+Pictogram+Advance Sign 0.25 0.67
*The revisions to the traffic control were introduced sequentially at each location, with the pictogram being
introduced first at Site 1, and the advance sign being introduced first at Site 2.
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