Investigation on the effects of countdown timers on safety and performance of traffic at signal controlled intersections

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors

Assistant Prof, Civil Eng. Department, Yazd University

Abstract

This article reflects the findings of a study on the impacts of countdown timers on safety and performance of traffic at signal controlled intersections. Parameters such as late-stopping ratio, early start ratio, number of red light violations and number of accidents were examined to consider safety impacts of these timers. Additionally, saturation flow rate, saturation headway and start-up delay parameters examined to compare traffic performance at 6 intersections where the countdown timers where left on and then switched off. Data required for this purpose were provided from the video recordings of video surveillance cameras. Comparison between the timer on and off situations showed that the number of red light violations reduced by about 1.16% , when the timer was on , The number of accidents showed no clear variation and early start ratio increased by about 1.7% when the timer was on. However, Mann-Whitney test based on a 95% Confidence interval showed that there is no significant difference in these parameters. Late-stopping ratio on average reduced by about 2.34% when the timer was on and Mann-Whitney test results showed that there is significant difference between the two situations. . Investigation on start-up delay parameter indicated that there is a significant difference between the two situations. In this regard, start-up delay of all the intersections increased by about 22.8% when the timers were off. The t test for analyzing saturation headway and saturation flow rates indicated that there is no significant difference between the two situations.

Keywords



Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 31 August 2019
  • Receive Date: 25 January 2016
  • Revise Date: 25 September 2016
  • Accept Date: 25 September 2016