CASE STUDY NATIONAL

A leading pedestrian interval was created at three signalized intersections in downtown St. Petersburgh, Flordia. Studies were done prior to and after the installation to collect data and determine if an LPI was a good strategy to implement. No public outreach or marketing was done throughout the study to ensure that the results would not be biased.

When the LPI was implemented, a three second interval was given to pedestrians before the traffic light turned green for vehicles. All intersections had posted speed limits of 30 miles per hour and carried high volumes of traffic.

After the study concluded, there were 44 pre-treatment observation periods at all three sites. On average, there were between two and three conflicts per 100 pedestrians with some having up to five conflicts. After the LPI was installed, 34 of the 41 sessions had no conflicts – no more that two conflicts were recorded per session per 100 pedestrians. This dramatic decrease in conflicts can likely be attributed to the pedestrian right of way with the introduction of the LPI. Pedestrians were also less likely to yield to vehicles during this time. Continuing on, no reduction in intersection effectiveness for vehicles was detected either. The LPI was kept past the study and results show that there was an increase in pedestrian comfort and safety and increased perceived safety too.