High-Visibility Enforcement on Driver Compliance with Pedestrian Right-of-Way Laws
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Offers strategies to increase motorist yielding to pedestrians on a citywide basis using high-visibility pedestrian right-of-way enforcement in Gainesville, Florida.
This study developed and evaluated strategies to increase driver yielding to pedestrians on a citywide basis using high-visibility pedestrian right-of-way enforcement. After a site recruitment process, Gainesville, Florida, participated in the project. The Gainesville Police Department (GPD) took the lead for the city and became a full partner in project development and research. Six pedestrian sites received enforcement and 6 more sites that did not receive enforcement were comparison sites to test for generalization effects. The program evaluation consisted of weekly measurement of driver yielding behavior at treated and comparison sites and crash analyses. The GPD conducted high-visibility crosswalk operations using decoy pedestrian crossings, inexpensive engineering (advance yield markings, in-street STATE LAW YIELD TO PEDESTRIAN signs), education (earned media, outreach efforts to elements within the community), and road signs that provided feedback on the percentage of drivers yielding right-of-way to pedestrians during the preceding week.
