Abstract
Motorists yielding to a pedestrian at the crosswalk line can screen the view of the pedestrian crossing in front of them. This places the pedestrian at risk from vehicles approaching in adjacent travel lanes. An experiment was conducted in which advance yield markings and a symbol sign prompting motorists to yield to pedestrians at the markings were placed at several intersections. Their effects on pedestrian safety at multilane crosswalks with pedestrian-activated yellow flashing beacons were evaluated. Motorist and pedestrian behaviors measured throughout the experiment included the following: occurrence of motor vehicle—pedestrian conflicts that involved evasive action, distance before the crosswalk that motorists stopped when yielding to pedestrians, and percentage of motorists yielding to pedestrians. The introduction of the markings and the sign 10 m before the crosswalk increased the distance in front of the crosswalk that motorists yielded to pedestrians and it markedly reduced the percentage of motor vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. Placing markings 15 m and 25 m in advance of the crosswalk produced similar benefits, demonstrating that treatment effects can be produced over a wide range of values.
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