Study Details

Study Title: Safety Effectiveness of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) Pedestrian Enhancement

Authors: Amrita Goswamy, Mohamed Abdel-Aty, and Nada Mahmoud

Publication Date: 2022

Abstract: The Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFB) is a pedestrian crosswalk countermeasure system that caution drivers by providing them with real-time warning about the presence of pedestrians in an upcoming crosswalk. This paper investigated the safety effectiveness of existing RRFBs installed in the state of Florida between 2013 to 2018. Additionally, traffic volume, roadway characteristics, pedestrian exposure and land use mix were included as explanatory variables. The study evaluated 154 treated sites with RRFB installations and 158 control sites with similar characteristics. Safety performance functions were developed, and crash modification factors were calculated using the empirical Bayes (EB) methodology for various crash types. A Crash Modification Factor (CMF) of 0.31 for total pedestrian crashes was estimated showing that RRFB have the potential to reduce 69% of total pedestrian involved crashes that included fatal, injury and minor crashes. CMF for total vehicular crashes and rear end crashes were also investigated to ascertain whether RRFB have adverse effects on rear end crashes. CMF for total crashes was found to be 1.14 showing that RRFB does not have positive effect in reducing total crashes. Similarly, it was observed that CMF for the rear end crashes was 1.11 indicating RRFB might have adverse effect on rear end crashes as vehicles needs to slow down or stop due to the presence of pedestrians. CMFunctions for significant variables for pedestrian, rear-end and total crash models were also estimated in this study. An economic analysis indicated that the implementation of RRFB will yield a benefit to cost ratio (calculated over 3 years) of approximately 85.5 with a 4% discount rate.

Study Citation: ---withheld, to be updated with ASCE citation---


CMFs Associated With This Study

Category: Pedestrians

Countermeasure: Install rectangular rapid flashing beacon (RRFB)

CMF CRF(%)QualityCrash TypeCrash SeverityRoadway TypeArea Type
0.31694 StarsVehicle/pedestrianAllNot specifiedAll
0.3704 StarsVehicle/pedestrianK,A,B,CNot specifiedAll
0.27734 StarsVehicle/pedestrianA,B,CNot specifiedAll
1.11-114 StarsRear endAllNot specifiedAll
1.18-184 StarsOtherAllNot specifiedAll
1.14-144 StarsAllAllNot specifiedAll