Road User Behaviors At Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons

Fitzpatrick, Kay; Pratt, Michael · 2016 · ROSA P / United States. Federal Highway Administration

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Summary

This study, sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), investigates driver and pedestrian behaviors at Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons (PHBs), also known as High-Intensity Activated Crosswalks (HAWKs). The research was motivated by questions regarding the appropriate roadway conditions for PHB installation and specific operational concerns, particularly whether drivers mistakenly treat a dark PHB as a stop sign. The objective was to determine actual user behaviors at existing sites to inform future implementation guidelines. The methodology involved an open-road study at 20 sites in Austin, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona, selected to represent a variety of posted speed limits (30–45 mph), lane counts (4–6 lanes), and median types. Data collection occurred during daytime, dry-weather conditions in late 2014 and early 2015. Researchers used inconspicuous multiple video camera setups to record interactions, resulting in a dataset of over 78 hours of footage, 1,149 PHB actuations, and 1,979 pedestrian crossings. The analysis focused on driver yielding rates, driver responses to dark beacons, pedestrian compliance with activation buttons, and the frequency of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. The findings indicate high compliance and safety performance. Driver yielding averaged 96 percent across all sites, with no significant difference between cities after adjusting for outliers. Crucially, no drivers appeared confused by the dark PHB; stops during the dark phase were attributed to downstream congestion or non-compliant pedestrians rather than misinterpretation of the signal. Pedestrian compliance was also high, with 91 percent of pedestrians activating the PHB when able. Only 7 percent of pedestrians crossed during the dark indication, typically doing so only when traffic volumes were low enough to find safe gaps. Conflicts were rare, occurring in only 54 instances over 78 hours, and were predominantly associated with non-compliant pedestrians or sites near major traffic generators like supermarkets and bus stops. The study concludes that PHBs are effective at improving pedestrian safety and driver yielding across a wide range of roadway conditions, including high-speed and wide roads. The results alleviate concerns about driver confusion regarding the dark mode and support the use of PHBs in diverse environments. However, the findings suggest that access points and bus stops near PHBs may increase conflict rates, indicating a need for further research to determine optimal distances for restricting such features near these crossings.

Key finding

Drivers yielded to pedestrians at an overall average rate of 96 percent at the 20 studied Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon sites.

Methodology

on_road

Sample size: 1979

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• pedestrian behavior perception
• rail grade crossings
• vru facing ehmi
• driver vru interaction