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U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.
Washington, D.C. 20590
August 8, 2011
In Reply Refer To: HOTO-1
Rob Stinger, P.E.
Chief, Traffic Engineering and Operations
District 2
California Department of Transportation
P.O. Box 496073
Redding, CA 96049-6073
Dear Mr. Stinger:
Thank you for your letter of July 12 requesting conceptual approval to experiment with the addition of a yellow LED border to a standard pedestrian signal head to enhance motorist awareness of the presence of a pedestrian waiting to cross and actually crossing at a signalized intersection.
Under your proposed concept, the yellow border on the pedestrian signal head would be displayed beginning with the receipt of a pedestrian actuation during the steady orange hand display and would continue until the end of the pedestrian phase that subsequently serves that pedestrian call. Your experimental display is intended to provide an additional visual cue to motorists on the approaches parallel to the crosswalk served by the pedestrian signal heads. The yellow border on the far side pedestrian signal head would be an indication that a pedestrian has pushed the button and is waiting to cross. Your experiment would attempt to determine whether this yellow border, displayed during the time that the parallel vehicular phase is moving concurrently with the pedestrian crossing, would improve the yielding behavior of motorists turning left and right across the crosswalk.
We believe that this is a valid concept to experiment with and we would be inclined to approve it if we receive a formal experimentation request in accordance with Section 1A.10 of the 2009 MUTCD. In order for us to consider approving the experiment, it is necessary that a fully-developed evaluation plan be developed and submitted with your request. You should determine what the measures of effectiveness (MOEs) would be, what data would be collected in order to evaluate those MOEs, and what statistical methods will be employed to assure statistical validity of the results. In developing your evaluation plan, we highly recommend that you consult the document Pedestrian and Bicyclist Traffic Control Device Evaluation Methods, which can be downloaded from the following Web site: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/pedbike/11035/11035.pdf.
We look forward to receiving your full experimentation request, for which we have tentatively assigned a number and title of "4(09)-13 (E) Yellow LED Border on Ped Signal — CalTrans." Please reference this number in your request. Also, please be aware of any State laws and/or directives covering the application of MUTCD provisions that may exist in California.
Thank you for your interest in improving pedestrian safety. If we can be of further assistance on this matter, please feel free to contact Mr. Scott Wainwright of our MUTCD Team by e-mail at scott.wainwright@dot.gov or by telephone at 202-366-0857.
Sincerely yours,
Original signed by:
Mark R. Kehrli
Director, Office of Transportation Operations
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