These Pedestrian Traffic Signals Are Confusing Drivers

There's a caller pedestrian crossing awesome successful town. Rather than relying connected long-standing laws requiring motorists to extremity for pedestrians successful a crosswalk, nan Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon uses yellowish and reddish lights to bring postulation to a extremity earlier signaling pedestrians to transverse nan road. Also known arsenic a HAWK Beacon (short for High Intensity Activated Crosswalk, somehow), it's typically utilized astatine crosswalks acold from intersections, wherever a modular postulation ray would incorporated pedestrian power arsenic well. In theory, that's great, but nan measurement nan lights are implemented connected this awesome defies respective well-established conventions, confusing drivers alternatively of keeping pedestrians safe.

Many of you person apt ne'er seen 1 of these, truthful here's really nan U.S. Department of Transportation says it should work. Under normal conditions, nan lights are dark. Traffic flows unobstructed, and pedestrians person to hold to cross. When a pedestrian presses nan button, nan awesome becomes a flashing yellowish light, which typically intends be aware and certainly not that postulation should stop. The yellowish ray past becomes dependable for respective seconds, past is replaced by 2 coagulated reddish lights, which we tin each work together intends stop. This is erstwhile pedestrians transverse nan roadworthy safely. Then nan 2 reddish lights statesman flashing alternately, which is expected to mean that postulation should extremity for nan crosswalk, past proceed if it is clear. After a while, nan ray goes acheronian again until nan adjacent clip a pedestrian activates it.

Are you confused yet? I sure was nan first clip I encountered 1 of these. The Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon useful truthful otherwise from signals we're already acquainted pinch successful truthful galore ways that drivers often don't cognize what to do pinch them, causing them to extremity erstwhile they should spell and, moreover worse, spell erstwhile they should stop.

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Let's commencement pinch nan signal's default state: completely off. In this state, we're expected to dress it doesn't beryllium and support driving normally, while pedestrians person to wait. However, nan modular norm (which, admittedly, immoderate drivers either don't cognize aliases take to ignore) is that if a postulation awesome is wholly off, you are expected to dainty it arsenic if it were an all-way extremity sign, according to In Control Crash Prevention. Everyone stops, checks for transverse traffic, and proceeds successful nan bid successful which they stopped. CBS News reports connected a UMass Amherst study showing that 9 percent of drivers they observed at Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons did precisely that. This is besides a alternatively damning statistic considering it's astir apt really they'd grip acheronian postulation lights astatine an intersection, but we already cognize that Boston drivers are nan worst. However, here, you're expected to thrust correct done nan acheronian postulation signal, which is not only confusing but besides teaches you that it's perfectly okay to do astatine immoderate postulation signal, which it's not.

Then there's nan flashing yellowish light. There's thing inherently incorrect pinch them, isolated from that they're utilized successful truthful galore meaningless situations that group mostly disregard them. Nineteen percent of drivers successful UMass Amherst's study stopped for nan flashing yellowish light, though it is imaginable that they were simply pursuing existing laws to extremity for pedestrians successful aliases waiting to transverse astatine crosswalks. In nary different postulation awesome does a flashing yellowish ray move into a coagulated yellow, truthful drivers are unsure of what to do pinch this behavior. It turns retired that nan coagulated yellowish is simply a informing that leads to a coagulated red, which is nan aforesaid behaviour arsenic a normal postulation light. But since this awesome has already behaved otherwise from a normal postulation light, drivers nary longer expect nan modular yellow-to-red behavior, truthful it catches them unaware.

A coagulated reddish ray intends stop, and pedestrians get nan modular awesome to transverse nan road. This is nan only unambiguous shape of nan full cycle. But aft respective seconds, nan coagulated reddish turns into an alternating reddish light, for illustration a schoolhouse autobus aliases railroad crossing. In some of these cases, you really, really request to stop, and for bully reason, because kids aliases a train will beryllium crossing nan street. But connected a Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon, alternating reddish lights mean stop, make judge nobody's crossing nan street, and past support going. This aforesaid behaviour would get you a hefty good pinch a schoolhouse bus, and pretty overmuch obliterated connected train tracks. The due reddish ray behaviour for "stop, look, proceed if clear" is simply a flashing, not alternating, reddish light. They were truthful adjacent to getting it right, but past they took a incorrect move and utilized nan incorrect signal.

Not that it matters much. The UMass Amherst study revealed that 65% of drivers blew done nan alternating reddish lights without stopping, sloppy of whether pedestrians were location aliases not. Perhaps they've fixed up connected figuring retired what these confusing signals are trying to show them and decided to conscionable go. Even worse, this shape is adjacent nan extremity of nan pedestrian crossing cycle, wherever nan past fewer group whitethorn beryllium rushing to get crossed earlier their ray turns reddish and postulation starts flowing again. So alternatively of keeping pedestrians safe, this creates a business wherever group are moving into nan crosswalk while postulation runs nan alternating reddish light, pinch a perchance disastrous outcome.

The Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon could beryllium simplified to hole galore of its flaws. If we still judge that driving done a acheronian awesome is acceptable, we could region nan confusing flashing yellowish portion of nan cycle, starring straight to nan normal behaviour of a coagulated yellow, followed by a coagulated reddish ray that intends stop, arsenic we expect. We could either alteration nan alternating reddish lights to flashing reddish lights to accurately pass nan "stop, look, go" behaviour they're trying to convey, aliases skip this shape wholly and time off nan coagulated reddish connected for arsenic agelong arsenic it takes pedestrians to cross, turning disconnected only erstwhile their crossing awesome has expired.

Or, we could conscionable switch nan Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon pinch a modular red, yellow, and greenish postulation light. It already conveys nan behaviors we want, and by nan clip we've fixed nan problems pinch nan caller signal, we're conscionable a greenish ray distant from this anyway.