Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-30-2019

Publication Title

Sustainability

Publisher

MDPI

Volume

11

Issue

17

First page number:

1

Last page number:

8

Abstract

Walking is the most affordable, accessible, and environmentally friendly method of transportation. However, the risk of pedestrian injury or death from motor vehicle crashes is significant, particularly in sprawling metropolitan areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of pedestrian crossing flags (PCFs) on driver yielding behaviors. Participants crossed a marked, midblock crosswalk on a multilane road in Las Vegas, Nevada, with and without PCFs, to determine if there were differences in driver yielding behaviors (n = 160 crossings). Trained observers recorded (1) the number of vehicles that passed in the nearest lane without yielding while the pedestrian waited at the curb and (2) the number of vehicles that passed through the crosswalk while the pedestrian was in the same half of the roadway. ANOVA revealed that drivers were significantly less likely to pass through the crosswalk with the pedestrian in the roadway when they were carrying a PCF (M = 0.20; M = 0.06); drivers were more likely to yield to the pedestrian waiting to enter the roadway when they were carrying a PCF (M = 1.38; M = 0.95). Pedestrian crossing flags are a low-tech, low-cost intervention that may improve pedestrian safety at marked mid-block crosswalks. Future research should examine driver fade-out effects and more advanced pedestrian safety alternatives.

Keywords

Crosswalk safety; Pedestrian safety; Community design; Public health; Physical activity; Pedestrian crash; Active transport; Active living; Sprawl

Disciplines

Public Health

File Format

pdf

File Size

748 KB

Language

English

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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