UTC: Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM)
Speakers: Nicholas Fournier, Sarah Bakhtiari, Nicholas Campbell, Krishna Valluru, Joshua Wolfgram, Eleni Christofa, Michael A. Knodler, and Aura Ganz
Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable road users, especially at intersections where pedestrians interact with vehicles. While pedestrian phases that are commonplace at signalized intersections facilitate their safe movement, roundabouts provide little protection to pedestrians, who must judge safe gaps in traffic before crossing. This presents further problems for visually impaired users, who must rely on auditory cues to navigate a roundabout safely. In addition, traffic approaching from many directions can be confusing and dangerous for visually impaired pedestrians. The objective of this paper is to design and test a new pedestrian-activated sign that can alert drivers to the presence of pedestrians at roundabout crosswalks, in an effort to increase driver yielding behavior. A thorough literature review was performed, which investigated various roadway treatments at roundabouts that improve visually impaired pedestrian safety. Given the limitations of existing studies that often put the burden of responsibility on the pedestrian, a novel pedestrian-activated yield sign was designed. An experimental design was developed for testing the effectiveness of this sign through driving simulation in combination with participant questionnaires. The results of the study show that although there are no statistically significant differences in driving performance between conventional and proposed sign, the glance rate improved with the new sign. This suggests that the drivers' cognitive burden is reduced, possibly improving situational awareness.
