Senior Research Engineer Kay Fitzpatrick, nationally known pedestrian safety researcher at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), is accustomed to phone calls from traffic engineers who want to discuss her lifesaving research results. She is expecting a lot more of those calls now that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has issued Interim Approval 21 for […]
pedestrian crosswalk
New Rapid-Flashing Beacon Shows Great Promise in Improving Pedestrian Safety
For many pedestrians, crossing a busy multilane roadway without the protection of a traffic signal is a nerve-wracking, sometimes dangerous proposition, even when using a marked crosswalk. As a means of improving safety at uncontrolled pedestrian crosswalks, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has sponsored research on a variety of traffic control devices intended to increase […]
TTI Takes a Second Look at Rapid-Flash Beacons for Pedestrian Crossings
Researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) are studying the effectiveness of rectangular rapid-flashing beacons (RRFB) in improving pedestrian crossing safety. Previous research has showed that the RRFBs increase the number of drivers yielding to crossing pedestrians, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has asked TTI to investigate modifications to the RRFB before adding […]
New Rapid-Flash Beacon Shows Great Promise in Improving Driver Yielding to Pedestrians
[vimeo width=”480″ height=”300″ title=”Watch Kay Fitzpatrick Interview”]http://vimeo.com/98577802[/vimeo] For many pedestrians, crossing a multilane busy roadway without the protection of a traffic signal is a nerve-wracking proposition, even when using a crosswalk. Help is coming, though, as research into a recently-developed rapid-flash beacon has shown significantly positive results—an increase in the number of drivers yielding to […]