Safety Evaluation of Leading Pedestrian Intervals on Pedestrian Safety: [techbrief]

Pedestrian safety is an important issue for the United States, with pedestrian fatalities representing approximately 16 percent of all traffic-related fatalities in 2016. In recognition of the magnitude of this problem, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded a study to evaluate promising infrastructure improvements to increase pedestrian safety. Following a literature review that summarized the existing knowledge on 18 countermeasures, FHWA and a Technical Advisory Panel selected 2 as the highest priorities for detailed evaluation in this study—the provision of protected and protected/permissive left-turn phasing and the provision of leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs). The objective of the study was to develop statistically rigorous crash modification factors (CMFs) for these countermeasures using state-of-the-art analytical methods.