The influence of signs prompting motorists to yield before marked crosswalks on motor vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at crosswalks with flashing amber.
The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of signs reading "STOP HERE FOR PEDESTRIANS" alone and in conjunction with advance stop lines on pedestrian safety at multilane crosswalks with pedestrian-activated amber flashing lights. Motorist and pedestrian behaviors measured throughout this experiment included the occurrence of various types of motor vehicle-pedestrian conflicts; the distance that motorists stopped before the crosswalk when yielding to pedestrians; and the percentage of motorists yielding to pedestrians. The introduction of the sign alone 50 feet (15.15 m) before the crosswalk increased the distance before the crosswalk that motorists yielded to pedestrians and reduced the percentage of motor vehicle-pedestrian conflicts whether the flashing light was activated or not. The addition of the advance stop line was associated with further improvements in both measures.
Van Houten
R
R
Psychology Department, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Malenfant
L
L
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001296:Audiovisual Aids / Q000592:standards*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009674:Nova Scotia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012449:Safety; D016138:Walking