Advancing Pedestrian Safety: Countermeasures that Work

June 27, 2014

About the Presentation

In this presentation, Dr. Ron Van Houten reviewed pedestrian safety issues, including safety assessments and potential treatment options that target the behavior of both pedestrians and drivers to improve safety. A number of successful pedestrian-focused countermeasures were described as part of an effort to improve pedestrian compliance at crossings. Countermeasures targeting drivers include a variety of signs, markings, and signals, such as advance stop lines and yield markings, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, and in-street signs.

In addition, Van Houten highlighted the development and results of a successful pedestrian sting operation—a high-visibility enforcement initiative conducted to improve proper yielding behavior of drivers. Following the presentation, there was time for a discussion on pedestrian safety issues in Minnesota.

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About the Speaker

Dr. Ron Van Houten is professor of psychology and a member of the behavior analysis faculty at Western Michigan University. He is also a researcher with the Roadway Safety Institute. Van Houten has worked extensively in the field of traffic and pedestrian safety and has developed many innovative traffic safetycountermeasures. He is the past chair of the TRB Pedestrian Committee and a consultant for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center. He has also worked on the Pedestrian Safety Strategic Plan for the FHWA Pedestrian Safety Program. He received the Patricia Waller Award at TRB in 2014 for his efforts to improve driver yielding behavior to pedestrians on a citywide basis.

Sponsors

This seminar was sponsored by the Roadway Safety Institute.