Federal Highway Administration
400 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20590

March 16, 2002
Refer to: HOTO-1

Mr. John M. Welch
Assistant Village Engineer
Village of Deerfield
850 Waukegan Road
Deerfield, IL 60015

Dear Mr. Welch:

Thank you for your February 7 letter regarding your request to experiment with pedestrian countdown signals. We have reviewed the material that was submitted in support of your request to experiment. Before we can approve this experiment, please submit a revised request and evaluation plan with the following information:

• Will the pedestrian countdown signal reflect the total amount of time (WALK + DON’T WALK), will separate times for the WALK and DON’T WALK be displayed, or will just the time for the DON’T WALK be displayed?
• Please provide information on the timing of the traffic signals where experimentation with pedestrian countdown signals will occur (pretimed, semi-actuated, actuated, exclusive pedestrian phase?)
• All data should be collected both before and after installation of the pedestrian countdown signals. Most importantly, the pedestrian and motorist behavior observations should occur both before and after.
• Data should be collected during the same time period and on the same day of the week.
• Please collect data on whether the pedestrian observed was a male or female. We are asking for these data items to be collected in all experiments so the results can be easily compared across the country.
• Please collect motorist behavior. We are asking for these data items to be collected in all experiments so the results can be easily compared across the country. We are enclosing a sample motorist observation data collection form for your use.
• A large number of pedestrian and motorist observations should be made (100+) rather than 25.
• If you choose to conduct pedestrian interviews, please include the following question:

  "Do you interpret the combination of the flashing DON’T WALK and the numbers to mean that it is legal to enter the crosswalk on a flashing DON’T WALK as long as you can reach either the median or the other side prior to the countdown device reaching zero?"

• Please include a legally-binding statement certifying that the traffic control device is not protected by a patent or copyright.

For future reference purposes, we have assigned the following official experimentation number and title to your request: IV-223(Ex)--"Pedestrian Countdown Signals-Village of Deerfield." Please refer to this number in future correspondence.

We look forward to reviewing your first semi-annual progress report this fall. If we can be of further assistance, please contact Ms. Louisa M. Ward on 202-366-4372.

Sincerely yours,

Shelley J. Row, P.E.
Director, Office of Transportation