United States Department of Transportation
i
Visually Impaired Pedestrian Safety at Roundabout Crossings
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2017-11-01
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[PDF-1.14 MB]
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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.
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