Devices known as pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHBs) allow walkers who need to cross a busy road to essentially conjure up a stoplight by pressing a button, however many pedestrians don’t bother to activate them before crossing, a new study has shown.
Research by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed pedestrians are more likely to activate rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs), even though they’re less effective at getting drivers to stop.
A key difference between the devices is that an RRFB instructs drivers to yield as soon as a pedestrian presses the button, while a PHB cycles through two yellow warning phases before it signals drivers to stop.
The IIHS study investigated yield rates and activation rates for the two types of beacons through video observations of more than 3,000 pedestrians crossing at various locations in North Carolina.
At locations where PHBs were deployed, drivers were more than twice as likely to yield to pedestrians when the lights were red as when the device was not activated, the researchers found. However, fewer than two-thirds of the people crossing at these locations chose to activate the signal.
At locations with RRFBs, drivers were about 80% more likely to yield when the lights were flashing than when they weren’t activated, but four out of five pedestrians chose to press the button.
“It makes sense that pedestrians don’t want to wait if they think they can get across the road safely,” said Raul Avelar, IIHS senior research transportation engineer and lead author of the study.
“That means pedestrian hybrid beacons, which drivers are more likely to treat like a red light at a regular traffic signal, may be more effective at the hairiest crossings, where pedestrians are more likely to use them. RRFBs should be installed at less challenging crossings, such as two-lane roads, where traffic is relatively light, or where speed limits are lower.”
