An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of an In-pavement Flashing Light System

Strategies used to enhance pedestrian safety on roadways include the in-pavement flashing light system. These lights are alert both motorists and pedestrians. While the system has been deployed in some locations, limited documentation exists in the literature on systematic evaluations of the effectiveness of these installations. An evaluation of the effectiveness of an in-pavement flashing light system is summarized in this paper. The measures of effectiveness (MOEs) used are yielding behavior of motorists, vehicle speeds, yielding distance from the crosswalk, and conflicts. A “before and after” study strategy was used. Statistical tools such as the test for two proportions and the Welch-Satterthwaite t-test have been used to evaluate the significance of the difference in the MOEs between the two study periods. The study corridor was a relatively low volume roadway located on Burkholder Boulevard in the City of Henderson, Nevada, USA. The results show that the installation of the in-pavement lighting system increases the yielding behavior of motorists significantly (P<0.001). The vehicular speeds were decreased when pedestrians were waiting at the curb to cross and when they were crossing (P<0.001). The yielding distances were different at a 90 percent confidence level. Motorists yielded to pedestrians on an average about 10 feet upstream from the yield markings and the yielding distances were consistent in both directions. However, no significant difference was found when conflicts were evaluated between the two study periods. These lighting systems thus are beneficial in improving safety for motorists and pedestrians at low traffic volume.