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Pedestrian Safety comes under the Spotlight

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Seeking safe haven for pedestrians on streets panned as the most dangerous in the nation, local and state traffic planners gathered Feb. 1, at MetroPlan Orlando.

The daylong workshop, which started with a field demonstration of the latest in crosswalk enhancement technology, featured groundbreaking research from Dr. Ronald Van Houten, of the Center for Education and Research in Safety, and data from more than a decade of work by the City of St. Petersburg, that has resulted in a 45 percent reduction in pedestrian deaths and injuries there.

In 2011, Florida was singled out as the most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrians, with the Orlando-Kissimmee MSA topping the list of most dangerous metros. The City of Orlando, Orange County, MetroPlan Orlando, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Winter Park Health Foundation have teamed with the Orlando Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Lynx, Orlando Health, the International Drive Improvement District and the cities of Winter Garden, Maitland, Winter Park, Windermere and Eatonville, under the direction of Bike/Walk Central Florida, in a concerted effort to reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries by 50 percent over the next five years.

Florida law states that every intersection of two roads in Florida contains four legal crosswalks, even if the intersection contains no markings. Where there is not a stop sign or traffic signal, drivers must to yield to pedestrians at intersections. Except when there is a traffic signal on two adjacent corners, it is legal for pedestrians to cross the street outside of a crosswalk, provided that they cross by the most direct route, and yield to oncoming traffic.

Working together, under the umbrella of Best Foot Forward for Pedestrian Safety, the communitywide coalition of public and private partners has already succeeded in raising awareness and getting more drivers to yield to pedestrians on roads with posted speeds of 35 mph or less using a “Triple E” regimen of low-cost engineering, high-visibility enforcement, and community education. Friday’s workshop explored engineering solutions to increase driver yielding on high-speed arterial roads – wider roads with posted speeds of 40 mph and higher.

The workshop started near the Dave and Buster’s attraction on International Drive, with a field demonstration of a promising technology that has been shown to increase the percentage of drivers yielding to pedestrians on roads with a history of low driver yielding. Pedestrians activate the device, known as a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon or RRFB – by pushing a button. The flashers are immediately activated, and continue to flash long enough for the pedestrian to cross the street safely.

Orange County Engineer Frank Yokiel said that since the RRFBs were installed, yield rates for pedestrians have increased from practically nil, to between 60 and 80 percent.  Those results were borne out by the experience of those who tested the device during the workshop, although several cars sped through the intersection despite the flashing lights.

Attendees offered Orange County engineers suggestions on how to enhance the effectiveness of the devices, including adding painted “stop” lines or “yield” markings 30 to 50 feet before the crosswalk, and additional signage 200 feet up the road, the calculated safe stopping distance of a car traveling at 40 miles per hour.

After lunch, Dr. Van Houten shared statistics on the effectiveness of various types of pedestrian safety devices, and Michael J. Frederick, neighborhood transportation manager for the City of St. Petersburg, offered a detailed analysis of what worked, and didn’t work, for the City of St. Petersburg.

One thing that didn’t work, at least not as well as he’d hoped, was a device known as a “Hybrid” beacon – essentially a cross between a traffic signal and a flashing intersection beacon – that was intended to provide the authority of a “full-red” stop light, with the permitting flexibility of a flashing beacon. The city of Tucson, Ariz., has successfully used this technology. In St. Petersburg, however, drivers, cyclists, and even pedestrians were confused by the device’s unfamiliar progression of solid red, “wig-wagging” red and flashing yellow lights.

The workshop was intended to serve as a toolbox for traffic planners as they look to improve pedestrian crossings on high-speed roads within their jurisdictions. MetroPlan Orlando is working with the Florida Department of Transportation and local cities, towns and counties, to prioritize improvements and is working with Bike/Walk Central Florida and Best Foot Forward to support enforcement and safety education.

For more information on pedestrian and driver rights and obligations under the law, visit the Best Foot Forward website: www.iYield4Peds.org.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Thank you for covering this important community safety issue. Two pedestrians are injured daily and one is killed each week in Metro Orlando. Your article does a good job of explaining the problem and how engineers are trying to help. The most important thing each of us can do is make a pledge to yield to pedestrians, make it a habit, and make it a mission to spread the word. Safety doesn’t happen by accident. By putting our best foot forward for pedestrian safety, we can make our neighborhoods safer.

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