Vehicle speed control effect of road surface pictogram installed in front of no signal crosswalk

Abstract

This study addresses the issue of accidents causing pedestrian fatalities due to vehicle violations at unsignalized pedestrian crosswalks. Efforts are currently underway to create safer traffic environments that prioritize pedestrians by combining physical infrastructure and traffic control measures. We focus on road surface markings and evaluate their efficacy in decreasing vehicle speeds. We installed road surface markings incorporating pictograms from an existing indication sign and pictograms based on a design index proposed in prior research at the same location. We evaluated the speed reduction effect on vehicles passing through a study section where a pedestrian crossing was positioned in the forward direction of travel. The findings from the analysis indicate that vehicle speeds were reduced across various points within the study section and that vehicle speeds decreased as they approached the pedestrian crossing when the road surface markings with pictograms aligned with the design indexes were present, in contrast to scenarios where such markings were absent.