Performance of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons at Midblock Pedestrian Crossings

Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) are increasingly being installed to facilitate pedestrian crossings at midblock locations. RRFBs are high intensity signal heads that flash lights when activated by pedestrians at midblock crossings. This paper focuses on evaluating the road user behaviors at midblock crossing locations installed with RRFBs. The study includes four RRFB locations along West Flagler Street in Miami, Florida. Data on pedestrian and driver behaviors at these locations were collected two days a week over a total of seven weeks. The performance of RRFBs was evaluated using the following five measures: RRFB activation percentages, pedestrian crosswalk usage percentages, pedestrian crosswalk clearance percentages, driver yielding percentages, and driver smooth stopping percentages. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical tests were conducted to determine whether or not the change in these performance measures over time is statistically significant. The results indicated that after the initial two weeks, all the performance measures improved as road users became familiarized with RRFBs, and then plateaued for the rest of the data collection period. Furthermore, the higher the pedestrian volumes, the more effective the RRFBs are. Based on the study results, RRFBs are recommended to be installed on high-speed multilane urban arterials with high vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic.