Pedestrian Signal Safety - AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

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• They do not encourage crossing during the flashing hand clearance interval. However,
pedestrians who would normally wait to cross now know how much time they have left.
• It works both ways. People who may have attempted to cross when they didn’t know how
much time was remaining now wait for the next cycle.
• I have not seen an increase in stepping into the crosswalk after the flashing hand has started;
however, I could see how someone who had the ability to walk faster could be encouraged to
fast-step it if one might see 10 to 12 seconds remaining on the indication. We have not studied
it directly.
• No. Our “before and after” studies show improved pedestrian compliance with WALK and FDW
indications.
• The countdown signals provide valuable information on the amount of time left to cross.
Whether it encourages people to cross during the flashing portion is debatable because most
of these people would probably cross anyway if encountering a flashing hand. What it does do
is tell them when they shouldn’t even try to cross.
• No, our pedestrians start to cross when the walk light is on and before the flashing hand.
• No. The presence of countdown heads does not appear to reduce risky pedestrian behavior.
• Internal studies show that the PCD signal heads do not encourage that behavior any more
than that of the standard pedestrian signal head.
• Our studies did not show an increase in pedestrians beginning crossing during the flashing
hand. However, our studies do show that the countdown signals encourage pedestrians to
complete their crossings before the solid hand is displayed and reduce the conflicts between
pedestrians and motor vehicles.