Understanding Pedestrian and Bicyclist Compliance and Safety Impacts of Different Walk Modes at Signalized Intersections for a Livable Community

摘要

With increasing energy costs as well as rampant congestion in major U.S. cities, the popularity ofwalk and bike mode choices have increased in recent years. Thus, the attainment of acomprehensive knowledge of pedestrian and bicyclist behaviors is of great importance.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 11.1% of pedestrianfatalities and 18.5% of bicyclist fatalities in the U.S. occurred in Florida in 2011, which accountsfor just 6.1% of the nation’s population. Additionally, intersections are hotspots for vehiclepedestrianconflicts, which is confirmed by the Federal Highway Administration’s estimate thatnearly one in five pedestrian fatalities occur at intersections in the U.S. Since both signalized andnon-signalized intersections are conflict points for vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists, it isessential that traffic control methods ensure that safety is not compromised.To examine the safety effects of different walk modes at signalized intersections, fourlocations in the Tampa Bay area were chosen. Two of the locations operate with Rest in Walkand Pedestrian Recall and the other two operate without Rest in Walk and Pedestrian Recall. Atotal of 26 hours of data were collected in early 2013 at the four study sites, which yielded 202pedestrian and bicyclist observations.Upon modeling behaviors using a multinomial Logit model, the presence of Rest in Walkand Pedestrian Recall on minor street pedestrian phases, which operate concurrently with majorstreet vehicle phases, was found to encourage higher pedestrian and bicyclist compliance ratesthan their absence. Additionally, the presence or absence of the combination of both Rest inWalk and Pedestrian Recall was found to be the most influential variable examined.