United States Department of Transportation
ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners.
As a repository, ROSA P retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
Safety effects of marked vs. unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled locations : executive summary and recommended guidelines.
-
2002-02-01
-
[PDF-728.01 KB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Edition:Final report; Oct. 1996-March 2001.
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:Pedestrians are legitimate users of the transportation system, and they should, therefore, be able to use this system
safely. Pedestrian needs in crossing streets should be identified, and appropriate solutions should be selected to improve
pedestrian safety and access. Deciding where to mark crosswalks is only one consideration in meeting that objective.
This study involved an analysis of 5 years of pedestrian crashes at 1,000 marked crosswalks and 1,000 matched
unmarked comparison sites. All sites in this study had no traffic signal or stop sign on the approaches. Detailed data
were collected on traffic volume, pedestrian exposure, number of lanes, median type, speed limit, and other site
variables. Poisson and negative binomial regressive models were used.
The study results revealed that on two-lane roads, the presence of a marked crosswalk alone at an uncontrolled
location was associated with no difference in pedestrian crash rate, compared to an unmarked crosswalk. Further, on
multi-lane roads with traffic volumes above about 12,000 vehicles per day, having a marked crosswalk alone (without
other substantial improvements) was associated with a higher pedestrian crash rate (after controlling for other site
factors) compared to an unmarked crosswalk. Raised medians provided significantly lower pedestrian crash rates on
multi-lane roads, compared to roads with no raised median. Older pedestrians had crashes that were high relative to their
crossing exposure.
More substantial improvements were recommended to provide for safer pedestrian crossings on certain roads, such
as adding traffic signals with pedestrian signals when warranted, providing raised medians, speed-reducing measures,
and others.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
