Effectiveness of Automatic Pedestrian Detection Device and Smart Lighting for Pedestrian Safety

A summary is given of an evaluation of the effectiveness of an automatic pedestrian detection device and a smart lighting system in improving pedestrian safety. These countermeasures were deployed at a midblock location in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in Nevada. The evaluations are based on field observations of pedestrian and motorist behaviors before and after the installation of the countermeasures. Their effectiveness was evaluated by using the following measures: percentage of pedestrians who looked to their left and right before and while crossing, percentage of pedestrians who changed their course of action, percentage of pedestrians trapped in the middle of the road, percentage of motorists who yielded to pedestrians, distance from the crosswalk at which motorists yielded to pedestrians, and delays. The results show an increase in pedestrians’ observational behavior and an improvement in motorists’ yielding behavior. A reduction in the number of pedestrians trapped in the roadway was also observed. Overall, the installation of the automatic pedestrian detection device and the smart lighting showed positive safety benefits for motorists’ and pedestrians’ behaviors at the test location. The findings from this study could be used to enhance pedestrian safety on arterial roads in other cities with similar demographic characteristics and traffic conditions.