21st Ave Pedestrian Crossing

PROBLEM:


Pictured to the left are the signs indicating the pedestrian crosswalk on 21st Avenue, right next to Vanderbilt campus.  The signs take some display principles into consideration as they are highly visible outlined in neon.  The problem comes in that they are a distraction from their intended purpose.  Instead of actually looking for pedestrians crossing the road, drivers have to focus on the signs to keep from hitting them, and the signs even catch their attention as they drive past, distracting drivers from potential crossing pedestrians.  The signs' placement out it in the middle of the road distracts drivers even more because drivers have to avoid the signs.  Pedestrians are usually waiting on the sidewalk, or at least they start there, so drawing attention to the middle of the road isn't necessarily helpful.  Another problem comes as drivers get used to driving past these signs, they become less and less effective getting driver's attention, so drivers begin to speed past without respecting the signs.  All of these issues pose a safety threat to the pedestrians crossing the street.  It possibly even encourages unsafe behavior by pedestrians as the signs generate a false security that they are safe to cross the street, assuming driver's will respect the signs and slow down.


SOLUTION:


The system should use the common traffic light signals that are already being used: yellow flashing light, and a red flashing light.  Under normal circumstances the lights will flash yellow indicating that driver's should proceed with caution.  Signs used be located on the sidewalk to indicate that this is a pedestrian crossing, and the white lines should be kept to reinforce that message.  There will be a terminal on both sides of the street with a button for pedestrians to press when crossing.  The button will change the yellow flashing light to a red flashing light indicating that the driver's should treat the light as a stop sign.  A screen on each side of the street will count down from 15 seconds to give all parties involved a sense of the remaining time.  During the busiest times of the day, the light could stay flashing red even if the button isn't pressed as an added precaution.  After the timer counts down the button should not be able to activate the light switch for another minute to make sure traffic as a chance to pass through.  Drivers are used to looking for traffic light signals, so it doesn't require a great deal of focus for the driver's to receive and process the message.  The drivers could keep their focus on the road and on the pedestrians crossing the road instead of troublesome signs in the middle of the road.  This system would increase the effectiveness of the system and therefore increase pedestrian safety.