a case study in the U.S.
Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons (also known as RRFBs) are solar-powered LED lights used to warn drivers of crossing pedestrians. It’s mainly consisted of a pair of LED lights, a caution walking sign, a button and a solar panel, all on a pole mounted on the side of the road. Before crossing the road, pedestrians are to push the button to activate the flashing LED lights. As they cross the road, the flashing lights notify drivers of the crossings, leading to them slowing down to stopping (University of Virginia 2019).
A research was conducted by the Federal Highway Administration to determine whether RRFBs could make drivers more likely to yield to pedestrians in multilane crosswalks. The researchers also wanted to know if they should be mounted on one side or both sides of the road. They picked 3 cities in the US with low percentage of drivers yielding to pedestrians: St. Petersburg, Florida; Washington, DC and Mundelein, Illinois. The result showed that the RRFBs increased the driver yielding by 73%. The average baseline was 18% and the average percentage with RRFBs installed was 91%. The result also suggested that the RRFBs mounted on both sides of the road were more effective than the ones mounted on one side by 4% (US Department of Transportation 2010).
REFERENCES
University of Virginia 2019, ‘Rapid flashing beacons enhance crosswalk safety at the push of a button’, viewed on 24 June 2019, https://uvaemergency.virginia.edu/rapid-flashing-beacons-enhance-crosswalk-safety-push-button
US Department of Transportation 2010, ‘Effects of yellow rectangular rapid-flashing beacons on yielding at multilane uncontrolled crosswalks’, viewed on 24 June 2019, https://emed.unm.edu/cipre/common/docs/cipre-resources/10043.pdf
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