Visually Impaired Pedestrian Safety at Roundabout Crossings

Details

• Creators:
  Christofa, Eleni ; Ganz, Aura ; Knodler, Michael A. ; Wolfgram, Joshua ; Fournier, Nicholas
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering ; University of Massachusetts at Amherst
• Corporate Contributors:
  Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Pedestrian safety
  • Crosswalks
  • Roundabouts
  • Blind persons
  • Visually impaired persons Roundabout Crossings
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center
• Abstract:
  Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable road users. This becomes more apparent ; at intersections, where pedestrians are unprotected and interacting with vehicles. While ; pedestrian phases that are commonplace at most signalized intersections facilitate their ; safe movement through intersections, roundabouts by nature provide little protection to ; pedestrians, who must judge safe gaps in traffic before crossing. This presents problems ; for visually impaired users, who must rely on auditory cues. The constant movement of ; traffic from many directions can be confusing to visually impaired pedestrians. The ; objective of this project is to develop a new pedestrian-activated sign that can alert ; drivers of the presence of pedestrians at roundabout crosswalks, in an effort to increase ; driver yielding behavior. A thorough literature review was performed, which investigated ; roadway treatments at roundabouts that improve visually impaired pedestrian safety. ; Given the limitations of existing studies that often put the burden of responsibility on the pedestrian, a novel pedestrian-activated yield sign was designed and an experimental ; design was developed for testing the effectiveness of this sign through driving simulation ; in combination with participant questionnaires. The goal is to determine whether drivers ; will intuit the meaning of the new roundabout signage after repeated exposure. ; Anticipated results should confirm the initial hypothesis that drivers will observe the new sign and respond by yielding to pedestrians. With multiple encounters of the new ; signage, an increase in yielding rates is expected compared to yielding rates associated ; with conventional yield signs at roundabout crossings. This study can help inform design, education, and other countermeasures for safer roundabout operations for all users.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34548/dot_34548_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.14 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:4d8e4284f4add43eed269707e7ab089d7d3105e2c56e7086b3f76306c5464bb3bccdd7e971e179f1b0e7c2d05b6c5391e4d6d202097f2a22cd31eda2443a084f