Various attempts to illuminate pedestrian crosswalks during the day and night have not significantly reduced the pedestrian/vehicle accident rate during nighttime hours.

Pedestrian activated pedestrian HAND-WALKING PERSON traffic signals have been installed at some crosswalks to help ensure pedestrian safety. These signals do reduce the pedestrian/vehicle accident rate, but have a negative effect of interrupting vehicle traffic flow for a time period after the pedestrian(s) are clear of the crosswalk. A dependable lighting method is needed to alert motorists both during the daytime and nighttime hours that a pedestrian crosswalk is occupied so they can slow down in time to permit positive safe crossing for pedestrians in the crosswalk with minimal impact to traffic flow.

Over a 44-month period, from January 1990 through September 1993, police records for the City of Santa Rosa, California, show a total of 135 vehicle/pedestrian accidents, an average of three per month. The City of Santa Rosa experienced 12 pedestrian in-crosswalk fatalities during this same period, six during the year of 1991. This high vehicle/pedestrian fatality rate has prompted the City of Santa Rosa to experiment with a new technology which uses in-roadway amber LED strobe lighting for identifying occupied pedestrian crosswalks to oncoming motorists.

In-Roadway Amber LED Strobe Lights
Both sides of a pedestrian crosswalk are lined with amber LED strobe lights (so named because of the strobe like flash rate), placed in the roadway surface facing the oncoming traffic, as diagrammed in Figure 1. When a pedestrian enters the crosswalk, the in-roadway amber LED strobe lights are activated either by the pedestrian pushing a crosswalk button or by interruption of an infrared light beam across the entrance to the crosswalk. The flashing amber LED strobe lights alert oncoming motorists that they are approaching an occupied crosswalk and should immediately reduce the speed of their vehicles. The flash of the amber LED strobe lights can be easily seen by the approaching motorists at a sufficient distance down the roadway to permit slowing of their vehicles and coming to a safe stop if necessary. The down roadway viewing distance required for the amber LED strobe lighting is set to match the posted speed limit.

TS AllnGaP Amber LED’s Provide the Strobe Light Illumination
The light source selected for use in the in-roadway strobe lights is the HLMT-CL15, TS AllnGaP, 590 nm amber, 15°, T-1 ¾, non-diffused LED lamp. The use of a TS AllnGaP amber LED lamp was selected over a xenon flash tube because LEDs provide the following benefits:

• Amber TS AllnGaP LEDs provide the best visibility for motorists at a distance in bright sunlight and adverse weather conditions.
• The 590nm amber color is the best for easy recognition by motorists who are red-green blind.
• TS AllnGaP LEDs are easily dimmable by pulse width modulation for nighttime viewing, eliminating the potential safety hazard of bright flashing lights.
• TS AllnGaP LEDs provide long-term reliability and low maintenance since periodic re-lamping of the strobe lights is not required.
• Low cost installation since all electronics can be contained in one roadside cabinet.
• LED drive circuitry can be easily designed to eliminate EMI that can cause noise in vehicles radios.

One notable advantage of the use of LED strobe light is the use of solar cell/battery power at roadway crosswalk locations where electrical power is not readily available. The efficiency of the LED strobe light permits operation off solar power during daytime hours, operation off battery power during nighttime hours, with sufficient battery reserve to last 30 to 60 days should there not be sufficient sunlight during winter months.

Luminous Output
The luminous output from the amber LED strobe light units must be sufficient for a motorist to easily recognize the flashing LED strobe lights in bright sunlit conditions along the full length of the motorist-viewing-distance-path. An array of 12 HLMT-CL15 TS AllnGaP LED lamps, at pulsed drive conditions, produce sufficient light output.

Optical lensing place in front of the LED lamp array focuses the LED emitted light into an 8 beam along the desired motorist-viewing-distance-path. The focused array of lights intersect down the motorist-viewing-distance-path creating a concentrated "heads up zone" of flashing light that is difficult to ignore be the approaching motorist. The strobe like flash rate maximizes the recognition characteristics of the light modules.

The ability of being able to dim the flashing amber LED strobe lights has shown to reduce the probability of being hazardous visual distraction to motorists during nighttime hours, thus not increasing the possibility of a vehicle accident.

Control and LED Drive Electronics

The control and LED drive electronics are totally contained in a roadside weatherproof cabinet. The systems operate off 12-volt dc, supplied either from solar panels or by an ax-to-dc rectifier off the ac line, thus allowing low voltage wiring to be placed in the roadbed for each bank of LED strobe light modules.

The control unit provides such functions as:

• Pedestrian crossing data: date, time, and direction, total volume of pedestrian traffic.
• Adjustable pedestrian crossing time in second intervals.

Details of the Roadway Installation
As illustrated in Figure 1 for a mid block crosswalk across a four lane roadway, a set of amber LED strobe lights are placed along each side of a pedestrian crosswalk facing the oncoming traffic. The usual pattern is one LED strobe light located at the center of each traffic lane, one located at the center of the roadway, and one near the parking lane. Placement on the roadway is chosen to be outside of the normal traffic tire travel ware pattern on the roadway to reduce the wear abuse on the LED strobe light module housings. Any crosswalk pattern markings on the roadway surface are offset from the LED strobe light locations, permitting the dark surface of the roadway to act as a contrasting background, enhancing the viewability of the amber LED strobe lights by motorists in bright sunlight conditions.

A basic two lane-four lane intersection is shown in Figure 3. There are 14 LED strobe light modules along the outside edge of each pedestrian crosswalk across the four lane roadway and 10 LED strobe modules along the outside edge of the crosswalks across the two lane roadway. The outer most LED strobe modules are place in the parking lanes, angled inwards so as to easily seen by motorists down the roadway.

Both sets of amber LED strobe lights are flashed simultaneously, with a flash rate of once every 900 ms (300ms On and 600 ms OFF), [revised to a 4-% duty cycle @ 10 Hz] signaling motorists approaching from both directions that the crosswalk is occupied. The light beam angles are set at 8°, horizontal and vertical, to cover the down roadway motorist-viewing-distance-path.

The cost of the in-roadway LED strobe lighting for a pedestrian crosswalk is anticipated to be about 1/5^th the installation cost of conventional HAND-WALKING PERSON pedestrian signals, which can be as high as $100,000 for eight pedestrian signal heads at a large 4-way intersection.

Minimum Length of Motorist-Viewing-Distance-Path
The minimum physical length of the motorist-viewing-distance-path is determined by the minimum stopping distance on a dry pavement for the posted speed limit. This minimum stopping distance includes a motorist decision distance, based on a one seconds reaction time, plus the necessary speed declaration distance required to come to a complete stop as listed in Table 1.

As an example, as determined from Table 1, the minimum motorist-viewing-distance-path on dry pavement for a roadway with a 35-mph speed limit is 161 feet. This 161 foot minimum distance would allow a motorist to visually recognize the flashing amber LED strobe lights, slow down, and if necessary, bring his/her vehicle to a complete safe stop before traveling into the crosswalk area.

Table 1  Minimum Vehicle Stopping Distance on Dry Pavement

Posted Speed Limit	1 Second Reaction Time	Braking Distance	Total Stopping Distance
25 mph	37 feet	53 feet	90 feet
30 mph	44 feet	81 feet	125 feet
35 mph	51 feet	100 feet	161 feet
40 mph	59 feet	143 feet	202 feet
45 mph	66 feet	184 feet	250 feet
50 mph	73 feet	227 feet	300 feet
55 mph	81 feet	221 feet	352 feet
60 mph	88 feet	323 feet	411 feet

Development and Field Testing at Santa Rosa, California

In-roadway amber LED strobe lighting to identify occupied pedestrian crosswalks to oncoming motorists is under development by Light Guard Systems of Santa Rosa, California, and is being field tested by the city of Santa Rosa, California. The field testing program, a 6 to 12 month study during calendar years 1994 and 1995, is strictly to determine if in-roadway pedestrian strobe lighting will in fact significantly reduce vehicle/pedestrian accidents in crosswalks, by providing ample warning to motorists.

The reader must understand that in-roadway amber LED strobe lighting of pedestrian crosswalks is in the preliminary stages of development and testing, and has yet to be proven effective in reducing accidents or approved for use by agencies such as the California Traffic Control Devices Committee (CTCDC) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). [NOTE: CTCDC approved in July, 1997 with Caltrans subsequently announcing plans to adopt standards and specifications in California.]

Four pedestrians’ crosswalks have been identified in the City of Santa Rosa for installation of in-roadway amber LED strobe lighting and field-testing. All four locations are non-signaled intersections, selected on the basis of a high pedestrian and vehicles and vehicles use. Two locations are at elementary school crosswalks, one location at the Proctor Terrace School on Bryden Lane and the other at the Matanzas School on Yulupa Ave. One location is the crosswalk at Howarth Memorial City Park on Summerfield Road, a busy four-lane roadway where a number of fatal vehicle pedestrian accidents have occurred. The fourth is in a residential area at the intersection of Stony Point Road, a 4-lane highway, and Glenbrook Drive, an intersecting two lane roadway. The installations at the two elementary school crosswalks were completed in 1994. Installation at the Summerfield Road was completed in April of 1995. The remaining location is scheduled for installation in the summer of 1995. [Budget constraints eliminated the fourth site.]

Preliminary results from the two elementary school locations have been very positive. Motorists polled agree that indeed the in-roadway amber LED strobe lighting does catch their attention and that they do slow down, looking for a pedestrian in the crosswalk in front of them.

Motorists have also indicated the viewability of the in-roadway flashing amber LED strobe lights in foul weather conditions (i.e. during a heavy rain or in a fog0 is excellent, giving them ample warning the crosswalk is occupied.

School children at the two elementary school crossings have observed motorists no longer "zoom" by their school, but do in fact slow down significantly when the in-roadway amber LED strobe lights are flashing. Motorists familiar with the two schools crosswalks that have the amber LED strobe lighting installed indicate they in fact do tend to drive slower when approaching the crosswalk, anticipating the flashing lights coming on as pedestrian (school child) steps onto the crosswalk in front of them.

The City of Santa Rosa, Caltrans and FHWA will be evaluating the results of this field testing program. Should the results prove to be effective in reducing the probability of vehicle/pedestrian accidents in crosswalks, the CTCDC could approve the installation of amber LED strobe lighting at all pedestrian crosswalks a standard throughout the United States. To do so, standards would need to be written, adopted, and published in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

Data Subject to Change
Copyright © 1995
Hewlett-Packard Co.
Revision A 2/97
Printed in USA 2/97
Revision 11/98
Comments by mfg. added for clarification [in brackets]

In-Pavements Amber LED Flashing Lights Visually Alert Motorists Approaching Crosswalks
The safety of a pedestrian crossing a street is largely dependent upon the vigilance of the pedestrian. A pedestrian must stop and look each way along the street before entering a crosswalk to ensure there is sufficient time between oncoming traffic to safety cross to the other side of the street. Motorists are required by law to give a pedestrian the right of way whenever a crosswalk is occupied. There are problems with this scenario.

As the population ages, pedestrians become less adaptive at discerning sufficient clearance time between oncoming vehicles. Motorists traveling in varied conditions may have difficulty seeing pedestrians in crosswalks in sufficient time to ensure their safe passage across the street. Increasing vehicle traffic flows make it difficult for motorists to see and identify marked crosswalks. In the United States, some 6000 pedestrians are killed each year while crossing a street, according to statistics from the Surface Transportation Policy Project, Washington, DC. Data indicates that pedestrians are 1,110 times more likely to be hit by motorists during nighttime hours than during daytime hours. In many cases, where a motorist has hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk, the motorist claims to have not seen the pedestrian. Such is the case when vehicle/pedestrian collisions occur at night, in adverse weather conditions such as rain or fog, and in traffic when a motorist pulls around to pass a vehicle that has stopped in his/her lane of traffic for a pedestrian in a crosswalk. These vehicle/pedestrian collisions could have been prevented is some kind of visual warning has been presented to the motorist involved to indicate that the crosswalk was occupied by a pedestrian. Such is the purpose of in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system at crosswalk locations.

The concept of an in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system is to alert motorists they are approaching an occupied crosswalk. This in-pavement visual warning gives motorists traveling at posted speed limits up to 45 mph sufficient time to slow down and if necessary come to a stop to allow pedestrians in a crosswalk to safely cross the street. In-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems prove to be especially effective at crosswalks where pedestrian traffic is 100 or more per day crossing the street. It needs to be emphasized that this in-pavement visual warning system is primarily for motorists, and is most effective at mid-block and uncontrolled intersection crosswalk where typically there are no traffic signals or other traffic control devices present. It is the actions taken by motorists to slow down or stop, once they have seen the in-pavement amber LED flashing lights, which ensure the safety of pedestrians in the crosswalk. At speeds of 35 mph or less, motorists have sufficient time to respond to the flashing amber lights at a distance of 400 feet from the crosswalk. At speed in excess of 40 mph, motorists need a distance of 600 feet, or greater, in order to have sufficient time to respond appropriately to the flashing amber lights. Pedestrians must still be alert to oncoming traffic and take normal precautions while crossing the street.

Once significant advantage of an in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system from traffic engineering point of view, is that is does not unnecessarily impede traffic flow. Whereas, ordinary traffic signals at pedestrian crosswalks require traffic to stop during a red signal indication, even if the crosswalk is not occupied, this system permits traffic to process with caution if there are no pedestrians in the crosswalk.

The in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system currently being tested in the United States is the Pedestrian Crosswalk Warning System, also referred to as Smart Crosswalk™, developed by LightGuard Systems, Inc. of Santa Rosa, California, utilizing amber AllnGaP LEDs provided by Hewlitt-Packard of San Jose, California

System configurations
The configuration of a typical mid-block crosswalk is illustrated. Amber LED modules are placed into the surface of the street along each side of the crosswalk facing on-coming traffic. The beam angle of the amber LED light is set to about 8° with respect to the surface of the street to provide visibility to motorists at a distance up to 1500 feet (457 meters) from the crosswalk. Placement of the LED modules is such that they are located between the normal vehicles tire paths. The LED modules are unidirectional, do not flash across the surface of the crosswalk so that the flashing LEDs are not seen by pedestrians. This was a requirement of the California Traffic Control Devices Committee, for two reasons, when testing of crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems was first approved. The first reason is pedestrians in crosswalks must not see the flashing amber lights and, as a result, feel a false sense of safety that does not exist. The second reason is that many pedestrians in a crosswalk, especially when walking in opposite directions would obscure the flashing amber lights from the view of approaching motorists.

The unidirectional amber LED modules are permanently imbedded directly into the pavement, facing down roadway away from the crosswalk, protruding above the surface of the pavement less than ¾ inch (19 mm). Automatic activated bollard gates are placed at each end of the crosswalk to activate the system. The bollards also provide low level amber LED illuminating of the crosswalk entrance to enhance pedestrian safety when stepping off the curb onto the street crosswalk during nighttime hours. An electronic control unit provides system functions such as date, time, direction of pedestrian traffic count data collection and adjustable crossing time and LED flash rate. The system operated off 12 volts dc and, although typically operation off an ac power line source, may be totally operated off solar cells and batteries, with no 120/220-volt ac electrical connection required, a significant cost advantage.

The system is only activated when a pedestrian enters the crosswalk to cross the street. Otherwise, the system is in an off-state. The use of bollard gateways at each end of the crosswalk is the preferred method of activating the system, since no action by a pedestrian, other than walking between the bollards, is required. When a pedestrian enters the crosswalk, after first determining it is safe to cross the street, the pedestrian breaks an infrared beam signal passing between two bollards. This infrared beam signal is signal is designed to sense direction of motion, activating the system with pedestrians motion entering the crosswalk and ignoring pedestrian motion leaving the crosswalk. The amber LEDs flashing in unison, in both directions along the street, at a rate set for maximum recognition by approaching motorists. Pedestrians crossing the street do not see the flashing lights. Timing is set in the control unit to allow sufficient time for a pedestrian to cross the street, typically about 21 seconds for a two-lane roadway. Once triggered, the system may be re-triggered by a second pedestrian entering the crosswalk, from either end of the crosswalk, before the first pedestrian leaves the crosswalk.

A standard diamond shaped amber pedestrian crosswalk sign is placed along side the street at a distance of 200 feet (61 meters) up-roadway to alert motorists. A second diamond shaped amber pedestrian sign is placed adjacent to the bollard gates at the crosswalk entrance. This additional sign has three flashing amber LED lights providing a secondary alert to motorists that the crosswalk is occupied. These flashing lights also let pedestrians know the in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system is active.

Some system installations utilize a pedestrian operated push button to activate the system. In these installations, a pole mounted control box containing the push button, a small sign with the words, "cross with caution", and a row of four flashing amber LEDs is placed adjacent to the entrance to crosswalk. This row of four amber LEDs indicates to pedestrians that the in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system is active. The works "cross with caution" are to remind pedestrians to maintain vigilance for their own safety by paying attention to traffic conditions while crossing the street.

The LED Flash
The Led flash rate, developed through testing across many test site installations, has proven to be effective in catching the eyes and, therefore, the attention of motorists as they approach a crosswalk. The flash rate, as shown in Figure 5, consists of 6 cycles of 40 milliseconds ON, 100 milliseconds OFF, followed by 250 milliseconds of steady state ON. The duration of the flash rate, electronically set in the system control unit, is based on the width of the roadway and is maintained for the length of time necessary for a pedestrian to safely cross the street.

Why Amber LEDs?
The initial versions of the crosswalk in-pavement flashing lights visual warning systems used xenon strobes. These early xenon strobe versions were not successful. Xenon strobes provide a flash of white light, although visible in nighttime conditions, is not readily visible in bright sunlight or in adverse weather conditions such as fog. Xenon strobes also require considerable power to operate, and because they burn out, do not provide long term light source without the need of periodic re-lamping.

Amber colored light is used because, internationally, a flashing amber light is understood to mean caution. Also, people who have red-green vision deficiencies see the color amber the same, as do those with normal color vision.

AllnGaP LEDs were chosen because they produce high intensity saturated amber light, which provides the necessary visibility in both bright sunlight and adverse weather conditions including fog. This is the same high intensity amber LED light being used in over-highway variable message signs and used in roadway work zone trailer mounted message signs, trailer mounted arrow boards, and barricade warning lights. Unlike xenon strobes that produce high energy light essentially in all directions, LEDs provide a narrow angle beam of high energy amber light that is easily focused down roadway which catches the eye of approaching motorists. LEDs being semiconductor devices can be flashed indefinitely without any damaging effects. A minimum of power is required to operate the LEDs, and due to their very high reliability and the fact that LEDs do not burn out, they provide a dependable light source that does not require periodic re-lamping.

A Remedy for a Dangerous Situation
A dangerous situation is when a motorist pulls around to pass a vehicle stopped in the lane of traffic in front of him/her, not realizing the vehicle in front stopped at a crosswalk to allow a pedestrian in the crosswalk to cross the street. The probability of the passing motorist hitting the pedestrian is extremely high, especially at night and/or during adverse weather conditions. With an installed crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system, the motorist approaching the stopped vehicle in the lane in front of him/her would also see the in-pavement flashing amber LED lights. The motorist would then be visually alerted that he/she is approaching an occupied crosswalk and that a pedestrian, not yet in view, is crossing the street, and that is the reason the car in front stopped. The motorist is now alerted to also come to a stop as his/her vehicle reaches the crosswalk.

Added Safety at Railroad Guide Crossings
This same technology can be applied to railroad grade crossings. Railroad grade crossing, in conjunction with automated red signal indications, may, or may not use automatically activated gate arms that lower to block traffic from crossing the tracks as a train approaches the crossing.

The problem is that some motorists take a dangerous risk and drive around these lowered gate arms to beat the train and cross the railroad tracks to save some time. Many do not make it. The train hits the vehicle and the occupants are killed, and the train can even possibly be derailed. Installing four quadrant gate arms to prevent such accidents has been discussed. The problem here is the possibility of trapping a vehicle on the tracks between lowered four quadrant gate arms with no apparent avenue of escape.

The installation of an in-pavement red LED flashing visual warning system, in place of a four quadrant gate arm system may prevent such accidents. A motorist attempting to drive around a lowered gate arm would see a row of flashing red LEDs across the surface of the road in front of him/’her, acting as a psychological barrier of bright, vivid red light, providing a visual warning to the driver of impending danger, causing the driver to have second thoughts, and make a no-go decision against driving around the gate arm to beat the train.

Testing of In-Pavement Amber LED Flashing Visual Warning System
Extensive testing and evaluation of crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems has taken place within the State of California under the auspices of the California Traffic Control Devices Committee (CTCDC). Initially, 3 test sights in the City of Santa Rosa were installed and tested in 1994 to prove this concept. A quantity of 8 additional installations in California cities have also been successfully installed. These include Fort Bragg (1 4- way intersection, state highway, January 1997), Lafayette (1 T-intersection and 1 mid-block, February, 1997), Willits (1 T-intersection, sate highway, February, 1997), Petaluma (1 mid-block, July, 1997), Orinda, at JFK University (1 mid-block, July, 1997), Thousand Oaks (1 mid-block, July, 1998), and Suisun City (1 mid-block, October, 1998).

Other installations outside of California have also proved beneficial towards improving pedestrian safety. These include Orlando, Florida (1 mid-block, march, 1997), the Island of Saipan (2 mid-block, August, 1997), Kirkland, Washington (2 mid-block, October, 1997), Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Reno, Nevada (1 passenger crosswalk, July, 1998), Olympic Golf and Country Club Seattle, Washington (1 mid-block, October, 1998), and Seattle University, Seattle, Washington (1 mid-block, October, 1998), So successful were the two test site crosswalk installations in Kirkland, Washington, the City of Kirkland has installed a total of 18 crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems throughout the city.

The most recent studies were funded by the State of California Office of Traffic Safety, the US Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. Results of these studies strongly recommends the use of in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems to improve pedestrian safety in crosswalks. The evaluation report, An Evaluation of a Crosswalk Warning System Utilizing In-Pavement Flashing Lights, dated April 10^th, 1998, is available.

A Brief Summary of Test Results
Independent evaluation of California test sites show consistent and compelling results indicating a definitive acceptance of motorists to this type of occupied pedestrian crosswalk warning systems. Data from six test sites in California, in the form of non-weighted averages, are summarized below. The data indicates the percentage of drivers yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks increases from 30% to 58% during daytime hours, and increases from a low 13% to an encouraging 71% during nighttime hours.

Table 1    Percentage of Drivers Yielding to Pedestrians and Advanced Braking Distance for Six Crosswalks In-Pavement Amber LED Flashing Lights Visual Warning System Test Sites in California. Data in the Form of Non-Weighted Averages.

	Percentage of Drivers Yielding to Pedestrians				Advanced Vehicle Braking Distance (in feet)
	WITHOUT SYSTEM		WITH SYSTEM		WITHOUT SYSTEM		WITH SYSTEM
LOCATION	Daytime	Nighttime	Daytime	Nighttime	Daytime	Nighttime	Daytime	Nighttime
Santa Rosa, CA	25%	1%	64%	87%	152 ft.	187 ft.	220 ft.	268 ft.
Fort Bragg, CA	47%	11%	85%	95%	106 ft.	90 ft.	142 ft.	216 ft.
Lafayette, CA	6%	1%	21%	53%	130 ft.	93 ft.	127 ft.	174 ft.
Lafayette, CA	8%	2%	32%	39%	173 ft.	201 ft.	210 ft.	318 ft.
Petaluma, CA	68%	56%	87%	83%	99 ft.	97 ft.	119 ft.	123 ft.
Willits, CA	26%	6%	61%	66%	170 ft.	141 ft.	193 ft.	228 ft.
Non-Weighted Average	30%	13%	58%	71%	138 ft.	135 ft.	168 ft.	221 ft.

The data from Table 1, converted to non weighted average percentage increases and presented in Table 2, shows motorists yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks increases by 158% during daytime hours and increases by an impressive 840% during nighttime hours. The advanced braking distance when approaching crosswalk increases by 23% during daytime hours and increases by 70% during nighttime hours.

Table 2    Percentage Increase in Number of Drivers Yielding to Pedestrians and Percent Increase in Advanced Braking Distance for Six Crosswalk In-Pavement Amber LED Flashing Lights Visual Warning Systems Test Sites in California. Data in the Form of Non- Weighted Averages, is Derived From Table 1.

	Percent Increase in Drivers Yielding to Pedestrians		Percent Increase in Vehicle Breaking Distance
LOCATION	Daytime	Nighttime	Daytime	Nighttime
Santa Rosa, CA	156%	860%	45%	43%
Fort Bragg, CA	81%	764%	34%	140%
Lafayette, CA	250%	520%	-2%	87%
Lafayette, CA	300%	1850%	21%	58%
Petaluma, CA	28%	48%	20%	27%
Willits, CA	135%	1000%	22%	64%
Non-Weighted Average	158%	840%	23%	70%

Economics of Installation Play an Important Roll

The cost of a traffic/pedestrian signal installation at a crosswalk typically runs in the neighborhood of $100,000. An in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system installation at a mid-block crosswalk across a two-lane roadway cost under $20,000. As this figures indicates, the installation of an effective crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system can be accomplished for about 1/5^th the cost of traffic/pedestrian control signals.

US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Authorization for Testing

Traffic engineering authorities in the United States wishing to install crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system test sites for evaluation may apply to and receive authorization from the FHWA. Requests for authorization should conform to the testing guidelines set forth in Section 1A-6 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Authorization is granted under the title "FHWA IV-138 (E) Pedestrian Crosswalk LED Warning Lights". It is the intent of the FHWA to use data gathered from authorized test sites as justification for recommending national standards and warrant definitions for crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems be written by the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for inclusion in the MUTCD. Once these national standards and warrants have been included in the MUTCD, traffic authorities within the United States may use these standards and warrants definitions to install permanent systems throughout their jurisdictions without first having to receive prior authorization.

Traffic engineering authorities in the United States wishing to install in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems for field testing should contact:

Michael F. Trentacoste, Director Office of Highway Safety
FHWA
400 7^th Street
Washington, DC 20590

Attention: Mr. Harry Taylor. \
Reference: Request to Experiment-Pedestrian Crosswalk LED Warning Lights IV-138(E)

Caltrans Moves to Adopt State Standards for California
After years of extensive testing in the State of California, the CTCDC, On July 17^th, 1997, recommended to Caltrans that crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems be adopted for use throughout the State of California. Based on this recommendation, Caltrans has undertaken the task of developing standards and guidelines, pursuant to the California Vehicle Code Section 21400, towards making these systems standard traffic warning devices in California. When Caltrans issues these standards and guidelines, cities and counties within the state of California may then proceed to install crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems at critical crosswalk locations within their jurisdictions.
For further information contact:

Caltrans
Traffic Operations, Office of Signs, Delineation, and Technical Support
1120 N. Street, MS 36
P.O. Box 942873
Sacramento, California 94273-0001
Telephone: 1-916-654-4551
Fax 1-916-653-6080

Awards for Enhanced Pedestrian Safety

Awards have been given for the added safety provided to pedestrians by the installation of crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning systems. These awards include:

• The California Helen Putnam Award of Excellence, awarded to the City of Santa Rosa, February 1997. Presented by California Governor Pete Wilson, for the City’s successful efforts installing and testing of the first LED lighted crosswalks to enhance pedestrian safety in California.
• A Community Excellence Award from the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission, awarded to the City of Kirkland Washington, April, 1998. Presented by John Moffatt, Director of the Traffic Safety Commission and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator for the Federal Highway Administration, for the successful installation and testing of the City’s first two LED crosswalk test sites.
• San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC) "Transportation Award of Merit", September, 1998. Awarded to LightGuard Systems for their development of the first crosswalk in-pavement amber LED flashing lights visual warning system.