By Mary Velan
Gov1
Cities are working hard to improve pedestrian safety as more residents are in support of walkable communities with less reliance on personal vehicle transport. One simple way to improve walker safety is by investing in adequate and efficient signage.
Children Crossing Streets
A recent study from the University of Guelph tested how often kids might walk into oncoming traffic in the real world, cutting it closer than many parents may realize. Researchers outfitted participants with motion sensors to detect steps taken when crossing the street. The study had children cross a virtual street with traffic sounds and patterns, and then asked parents to guess when their children would opt to cross the virtual street, Reuters reported.
According to the findings, parents expected their children to not cross the street when cars were less than 4 seconds away. Children, however, crossed the virtual streets with oncoming cars just 3 seconds away. Virtual cars ending up hitting children 6 percent of the time.
Furthermore, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons reports most child pedestrian injuries involving a motor vehicle occurred while children were unsupervised, near schools and bus stops, and during spring months in the afternoon and evening hours.
The study found:
- Most injuries occurred around the time of school dismissal an during the evening hours: 29 percent between 2pm and 5pm, 42 percent between 5pm and 9pm
- Greatest number of injuries occurred during the month of June
- Injury clusters were identified near schools and public bus stops where children leave school
The researchers concluded that more analysis of motor vehicle incidents – such as location and time of day – could help urban planners design roadways and transit infrastructure to directly combat pedestrian injury and fatality rates.
Signage Matters
A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research analyzed different types of road signs to determine which styles had a greater impact on driver awareness and overall safety. Many existing roadway signs illustrate imminent danger using “lower dynamism” images. The study examined the impact of using “higher dynamism” signs to attract driver attention and heighten risk perception.
Higher dynamism signs showed images of people and things in motion, not standing still. The researchers found participants reacted faster to more active signs, making them pay closer attention to their surroundings. The researchers theorize human attention systems have evolved to detect actual movement automatically and quickly, while ignoring static signs. Mixing up street signs with more active images would disrupt the familiarity of street infrastructure and jolt drivers to attention.
LA Sign Project
Los Angeles notoriously planted numerous street signs on top of each other to create a totem pole of parking and regulatory information for residents to digest. These confusing piles of signs could reach up to 15 feet and were difficult for citizens to see and understand, CityLab reported.
As a result, the city designed new street signs that consolidate the most important parking and regulatory information into a single, easy-to-read format. The goal is to help residents comply with street regulations while decluttering Los Angeles roadsides. The signs also house Bluetooth beacons that can transmit parking and street regulation information to a driver’s smartphone for even easier access. The impact of the new signs will be evaluated over a six-month trial period in downtown before potentially being placed throughout the entire city, CityLab reported.