Pedestrian hybrid beacons are devices placed over crosswalks which consist of two red lights arranged horizontally above a single yellow one. Pedestrians can press a button, activating the lights which prompt drivers to yield.
But, while those hybrid beacons are shown to get drivers to yield, a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that many pedestrians don’t bother to activate them before crossing.
It found that pedestrians are more likely to activate rectangular rapid flashing beacons, even though they’re less effective at getting drivers to stop.
When pedestrians hit the button for those rectangular beacons, flashing lights that instruct drivers to yield are immediately activated on yellow diamond shaped cross walk signs.
Alternatively, the button for the hybrid beacons activates the lights to cycle through two yellow warning phases before signaling drivers to stop.
Researchers found pedestrians appear more willing to activate the slower-acting hybrid beacons when the road is wide, traffic is heavy or the vehicles are zooming past at higher speeds.
Drivers are more than twice as likely to yield to pedestrians when hybrid beacons are activated than when they’re not, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. However, fewer than two-thirds of the people crossing at these locations chose to activate the signal.
Drivers were about 80% more likely to yield when the lights were flashing on rectangular rapid flashing beacons than when they weren’t activated. But four out of five pedestrians chose to press the button.
The study did certify the difference in wait times between the two types of beacons. It found waiting times were 52% shorter for pedestrians crossing in activated rectangular rapid flashing beacons than for those crossing at activated pedestrian hybrid beacons.
That’s because pedestrian hybrid beacons must cycle through two yellow warning periods before changing to red and giving the walk signal, while rectangular rapid flashing beacons begin flashing immediately and allow pedestrians to cross as soon as they feel it is safe.
Survey respondents said they’re more likely to activate either type of signal when traffic is heavy or fast-moving. It also found drivers were more prone to yield at locations with a refuge island for pedestrians, in school zones and when groups of pedestrians were crossing.
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