Pedestrian Safety Countermeasure Deployment Project
Source: Federal Highway Administration
In 2002, the Federal Highway Administration awarded grants to the cities of San Francisco, Las Vegas and Miami to examine and map out their pedestrian crashes and develop a plan for deploying and evaluating various pedestrian safety countermeasures in high crash "zones" and locations. The purpose of the project was to demonstrate how a city could improve pedestrian safety by performing a detailed analysis of its pedestrian crash problem, identifying and evaluating high crash locations, observing factors such as driver and pedestrian behavior, and deploying various lower cost countermeasures tailored to the site. San Francisco has completed its study, and Miami and Las Vegas will complete theirs by the end of 2008. An independent evaluation is also being conducted to compare the countermeasure deployment in the three cities. Information will be placed on this site as it becomes available. Some of the countermeasures evaluated include:
Automated (video) detection of pedestrians to extend crossing time, flashing beacons, "in sreet" pedestrian signs, "Turning Traffic Must Yield to Pedestrians" signs, median refuge islands, pedestrian push button acknowledgement, LED "No Turn on Red" signs, reduce minimum green time (hot button), "smart" crosswalk lighting, and pedestrian countdown signals.
