EFFECTIVENESS OF RECTANGULAR RAPID FLASHING BEACONS (RRFBS) IN SMALL AND RURAL COMMUNITIES
Conference Year
2023
Abstract
A common pedestrian crossing treatment is Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), designed for crossing the road. We use a before-after controlled design to evaluate RRFBs’ effectiveness in rural contexts. We focus on driver and pedestrian compliance and risky driver-pedestrian interactions as proxies for safety. We first evaluate the effectiveness by summarizing the differences-in-differences, then we use multivariate-regression models. Our results indicate that driver yielding rates increase when an RRFB is activated. Also installing RRFBs in small and rural locations leads to improvements including the rate of drivers stopping far from the pedestrian zone, pedestrian wait times, out-of-crosswalk crossing, and pedestrians cross suddenly.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Dana Rowangould
Status
Graduate
Student College
College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences
Program/Major
Civil Engineering
Primary Research Category
Social Science
EFFECTIVENESS OF RECTANGULAR RAPID FLASHING BEACONS (RRFBS) IN SMALL AND RURAL COMMUNITIES
A common pedestrian crossing treatment is Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), designed for crossing the road. We use a before-after controlled design to evaluate RRFBs’ effectiveness in rural contexts. We focus on driver and pedestrian compliance and risky driver-pedestrian interactions as proxies for safety. We first evaluate the effectiveness by summarizing the differences-in-differences, then we use multivariate-regression models. Our results indicate that driver yielding rates increase when an RRFB is activated. Also installing RRFBs in small and rural locations leads to improvements including the rate of drivers stopping far from the pedestrian zone, pedestrian wait times, out-of-crosswalk crossing, and pedestrians cross suddenly.