Effectiveness of Strobes on Improving Violation Rates at Pedestrian Signals
ITE Journal, Institute of Transportation Engineers
December 1, 2005
The City of Somerville, MA, USA, undertook a test of strobes in red signal, lenses to evaluate their effectiveness in improving the violation rate at pedestrian-actuated intersections. The City’s Department of Traffic and Parking had documented a pattern of high violation rates for red indications at pedestrian signals.The City decided to test the effectiveness of strobes to determine if a heightened state of awareness would result in a reduced violation rate. To document the effectiveness of the strobes for the City’s purposes, the Department of Traffic and Parking conducted a before and after study of violation rates. The department was permitted by City officials to conduct tests at only two locations. The intent of the study—and this feature—was to provide the City’s elected officials with a greater understanding of the potential of this new technology in addressing safety concerns. In addition, the authors wanted to ensure that their experiences would be shared with other practitioners for the benefit of the industry. The City selected this technology for testing because multiple local elected officials had observed the devices in other jurisdictions. These officials were interested in local applications to improve safety. Although the strobes are not currently included in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), the City felt that there could be tremendous benefit from this product.