Challenges of Unfamiliar Signalized Intersections for Pedestrians Who Are Blind: Research on Safety

Pedestrians who are blind or visually impaired often travel in areas that are unfamiliar to them and cross at signalized intersections. Results are reported of testing street crossing by blind pedestrians at complex, unfamiliar signalized intersections without accessible pedestrian signals. There will be further reports on these results. The focus is on descriptive analysis of broad measures of safety, orientation, and need for assistance in crossing. Objective data on 12 measures of street-crossing performance were obtained at four intersections (two in each of two cities). In each city, 16 blind participants crossed at unfamiliar, complex signalized intersections without accessible pedestrian signals. Results confirm that blind pedestrians have considerable difficulty locating crosswalks, aligning to cross, determining the onset of the walk interval, maintaining a straight crossing path, and completing crossings before the onset of traffic perpendicular to their path of travel. Accessible pedestrian signals will be installed at the four intersections, and postinstallation data will be used to determine recommendations for accessible pedestrian signal characteristics and installation.