Evaluating the effect of advance yield markings and symbolic signs on vehicle pedestrian conflicts at marked midblock crosswalks across multilane roads.

ISA #58738The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made walkable communities a priority. Pedestrian safety is key to the success ofthis objective. Pedestrians are at high risk when traversing unsignalized, marked crosswalks located either midblock or at Tintersections,especially when a vehicle adjacent to the driver blocks his or her view of a crossing pedestrian. A number oftreatments have been proposed to reduce crashes at such crosswalks under these conditions. In four experiments, twoperformed on a driving simulator and two conducted on streets in the town of Greenfield, Massachusetts, the behavior ofdrivers exposed to modified standard yield markings (MSYM) was compared with the behavior of drivers exposed to\u201cadvance yield markings\u201d (AYM). AYMs consist of a line of white triangles twenty to fifty feet in advance of thecrosswalk. A sign indicating that drivers should yield at the markings accompanies the markings. On all measures of safety,the AYMs were superior to MSYMs at midblock crosswalks and T-intersections. Moreover, at T-intersections, pedestrianswere safer when the mainline crosswalk was located at the far side of the cross street rather than the near side