Pedestrian Signal Safety - AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

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Table A-3. Locations where countdown signals should not be used.
Table A-3. Locations where countdown signals should not be used.
Item Number
Percentage
of total
Use in all cases. 25 40.3
Low pedestrian activity; intersections that do not contain
the required pedestrian demographics.
Wide streets; if streets are too wide, pedestrians may
not have a clue how long it would take to cross, so the
numbers displayed could be meaningless. In these
cases, education could address this potential issue.
Short crossings/narrow roadways with less than three
lanes to cross.
Smaller, two-phase intersections with one lane per
direction.
11 17.7
6 9.7
Funding/cost to acquire/maintain. 5 8.1
Do not use if planning to reduce the pedestrian
clearance phase during preemption.
3 4.9
Where preempt programming may override countdown
operations.
High vehicular speeds. 2 3.2
Where there are no crossing facilities for pedestrians 1 1.7
Do not use with signals where the WALK time varies
due to coordination if the countdown begins with the
WALK display (unless the countdown signal technology
has addressed this issue).
Alternatively, tell pedestrians how long they have to wait
rather than scare them into clearing the road.
1 1.6
1 1.6
Where motorists have a clear view of the timer display. 1 1.6
Difficult to use on a main street for a side street
crossing.
On main streets; crossing the shorter distance of the
1 1.6
side street. There is the concern that the driver on the
main street may use them to determine the onset of
amber and possibly try to beat the light.
1 1.6
Do not use where the WALK indication is included in the
countdown.
1 1.6
Areas where pedestrians are predominantly mobile;
FDW becomes meaningless.
1 1.6
Long cycle lengths. 1 1.6
Audible pedestrian signal locations. 1 1.6
TOTAL 62 100.0
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