Association for Behavior Analysis International

Increasing motorist yielding right-of-way to pedestrians in crosswalks reduces the number of collisions between motorists and pedestrians. One very cost effectively technology, which has recently been demonstrated to increase the safety of pedestrians, is the use of a gateway configuration of the in-street yield to pedestrian sign. In the first series of three studies supported by Michigan Department of Transportation examined variables that influenced the efficacy of this sign and determined how to use this treatment most effectively. These studies also examined the effectiveness of various configurations of this treatment that could increase the survival of the treatment in the roadway. In a fourth study supported by the Federal Highway Administration we examined variables related to the efficacy of the countdown pedestrian signal to determine ways to improve their effectiveness. This study examined whether pedestrians could accurately discriminate how much time they needed to cross roadways of various widths, which change interval signal was most clearly understood by pedestrians, and pedestrians with low vision uses countdown pedestrian signals. These studies will inform the use of these technologies across the country.

This study examined whether sign message contributed to the effectiveness of the gateway configuration of the in-street sign at two sites using a reversal design. The percentage of driver yielding right-of-way to pedestrians was consistently low at both sites during baseline conditions. The installation of the gateway configuration increased the yielding to very high levels. The use of the gateway treatment with blank signs. signs that only contained the background reflective yellow green material produced only half as much yielding as the treatment with the sign message present. These data show that the results could not be explained entirely by the perceived narrowing of the road. This study also examined whether replacing the sign element most likely to be struck by vehicles with a robust city post which can withstand many more high speed hits could increase yielding. The results showed that this configuration produced results that were somewhat inferior to that produced by the use of in-street signs in each position.

This study examined whether the width of the gateway configuration of the in-street sign influenced the efficacy of the treatment. Data were collected at there sites with a narrow and a wider gateway configuration. The gateway treatment was more effective in the narrow configuration then the wide configuration at two of the three sites and made little difference at the third site. Contextual variables appeared to be related to whether the narrow or the wide configuration were more effective. These data showed that perceived narrowing was a variable influencing the efficacy of this treatment. These data were interpreted in terms of behavioral principles.

This study compared the use of edge lane in-street signs alone, lane line use of in-street signs alone and the full gateway (edge lane and lane line signs used together on driver yielding behavior to pedestrians. The edge line alone and lane line alone configurations produced marginal increases over baseline levels of yielding behavior while the full gateway configuration lead to a marked increase in yielding behavior at this site. These data were explained using behavioral principles.