1Use of Animated LED ‘Eyes ’ Pedestrian Signals to Improve Pedestrian Safety

The use of animated searching ‘eyes ’ LED signals to elicit looking has a biological and psychological basis which is unique to traffic control signals. This basis makes such devices easy to understand and conspicuous signals that could lead to a marked increase in compliance. In this research, completed under FHWA permission to experiment, we evaluated: The use of the animated ‘eyes’ display as part of the WALK indication on pedestrian signal heads to remind pedestrians to look for turning vehicles; what percentage of the time the animated eyes should be on during the WALK display; whether the animated eyes display assists low vision pedestrians (pedestrians who are legally blind but have some vision) determine when it is their turn to cross; and a comparison of blue vs. white LEDs. The results of each of these studies are summarized below. The enclosed reports provide a more detailed description of the results of these experiments. Multi Site Conflict Study The LED pedestrian signal with searching ‘eyes ’ display was evaluated at 8 sites in three cities using carefully controlled experimental procedures. Apparatus. The equipment used in this research was an LED signal head. The ‘eyes’ display was populated with blue (460 nm) LEDs and consisted of two blue eyes with blue eyeballs that scanned left and right. The eyes were each 5 inches wide, 2.7 inches high and 2.25 inches apart. The WALK indication was an 11.2 inch-high outline of a walking person constructed from blue LEDs. The DON’T WALK indication was an 11.2 inch-high upraised hand constructed from orange (615 nm) LEDs. The DON’T START indication consisted of the flashing DON’T WALK, a