Transportation Assignment

I observed a rapid flashing beacon site in Eugene. Rapid flashing beacons (RFB) are enhancements to improve pedestrian safety at uncontrolled, marked crosswalks. They include an LED- light source to alert drivers that a pedestrian (or cyclists) is crossing the road. All a pedestrian has to do is push a button before crossing when using these. I found that they made it faster for pedestrians to cross the street, instead of regular crosswalks. I chose this assignment so that I could track how safe it is for pedestrians and cyclists to cross busy streets. The rapid flashing beacon I looked at was near Amazon Park, on Hilyard St. It was between E. 31st and 32nd avenue. I observed the area on a weekday, from 12:15-2:15pm. Because of this time of day, it was busy for pedestrians and vehicles.

I tracked 13 pedestrians cross at the RFB site during my two hours spent on Hilyard St. doing observations. I only noticed six cyclists crossing using the RFB. 10 of these pedestrians pushed the beacon button before crossing, while three did not. I also wanted to observe if the vehicles yielded or not when the RFB light was flashing. I observed 45 cars that yielded when the light was flashing. This included while the pedestrian or cyclist was actively crossing and for the moments right after they crossed, while the light was still flashing. I observed 14 cars not yielding to the pedestrians. When cars did not yield, it was usually just after the pedestrian clicked the button, so they didn’t have time to react and slow down. Some cars also did not yield when the pedestrian was on the other side of the road onto the sidewalk, but the RFB was still flashing. Overall I found the RFB lights are extremely helpful for safety of pedestrians and should be put in more busy areas in Eugene, especially near schools and active recreation sites. However, they could be improved or a different feature should be used for cyclists, as pushing the button was more difficult for them. The difficulty came from the RFB button being placed on the sidewalk, which was closer to pedestrians than cyclists in the road or bike lane.