Pedestrians don seem to understand the meaning of the flashing orange hand. Would a “Don Start” word legend or a different color work better as a pedestrian change interval display?
Studies have consistently shown that the flashing orange hand and its predecessor, the flashing word legend “DON’T WALK”, are not well understood by pedestrians. One reason may be the dual meaning of the indication, depending on whether you are on the curb (stay on the curb and don’t begin to cross) or already in the crosswalk (continue crossing to the far side or a safety island.) A variety of research studies have evaluated possible alternatives, such as WAIT, DON’T START, three-section pedestrian signals with different colors for the pedestrian change interval, and various combinations of these. Unfortunately, none of the alternatives have been found to be significantly superior to the existing. It appears that the best strategy is to better educate pedestrians as to the meanings of the existing pedestrian signal indications. Many jurisdictions have developed educational flyers and website information on this subject, as well as installing pedestrian educational plaques (R10-3b, c,
Related Questions
- Pedestrians don seem to understand the meaning of the flashing orange hand. Would a "Don Start" word legend or a different color work better as a pedestrian change interval display?
- After calculating the required pedestrian clearance time, is that the duration of the flashing orange upraised hand interval that gets set on the signal controller?
- Why does the orange flashing hand appear before I have finished crossing the street?
