Crossing Streets
GENERAL STREET-CROSSING

Skills and Concepts Needed for Crossing Streets
This lists skills and concepts that are necessary to get across a wide variety of streets, from simple residential streets to complex modern intersections. It is part of a more comprehensive list of O&M skills.

 Street-Crossings: Analyzing Risks, Developing Strategies, and Making Decisions
An approach to street crossings that addresses the increased ambiguity, complexity, and risks of street-crossing. Includes:
 o Determine risks of crossing
o Reduce risks as much as possible
o Alternatives when crossing is too risky

Other articles or handouts on this website regarding general street-crossing issues are:

What Cues do Blind People Use to Recognize a Street in the Absence of a Curb?
This was written after participating in research to determine if / how blind people recognize the edge of the street when walking along a ramp.

Non-visual strategies for aligning to cross streets

Quiet Cars and the Safety of Blind Persons
This paper was presented at a public meeting on "Quiet Cars" held by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, DC June 23, 2008.

Getting Across the Street with Visual and Hearing Impairments
This outline from a handout has suggestions for addressing street-crossing with students who have both hearing and visual impairments.
Do Drivers Stop at Unsignalized Intersections for Pedestrians Who Are Blind?
Includes results of study on drivers' yielding behavior, and survey of blind pedestrians and their perceptions and efforts regarding yield

Rules of the Road
Laws regarding pedestrians and "white cane laws" and the importance of knowing them
TRAFFIC SIGNALS

O&M Specialists have been teaching blind people to cross streets for more than 50 years, but traffic signals these days "aint your father's traffic signals"!

It is the consensus of the world's largest professional organization of O&M specialists (the AER O&M Division, with more than 1,300 members) that O&M instruction for crossing streets with traffic signals must incorporate skills and information needed to address the modern signalized intersections, as explained in their position paper on the AER O&M Division website.

Thus we are developing a "Self-Study Guide: Crossing at Modern Traffic Signals" which will provide all the information that is essential for teaching students to cross these intersections.

Meanwhile, some of the links on this site attempt to address this critical issue, as well as raise accessibility issues for all pedestrians at traffic signals. Information about accessibility of signalized intersections can be found at the website of Accessible Design for the Blind, and the Institute of Traffic Engineers' "Electronic toolbox for making intersections more accessible to blind people."


Changes in O&M "Best Practice" for Crossing at Traffic Signals
Explains that best practice has changed for teaching crossings at traffic signals, and implications of not using best practice
Spring 2007 Newsletter, AER Orientation and Mobility Division

Teaching Blind Pedestrians to Cross at Complex Signalized Intersections
Lists problematic features of modern signals, with links to suggestions and strategies.

Street-Crossings: Analyzing Risks, Developing Strategies, and Making Decisions
May provide a helpful perspective for signalized crossings as well as others.

Crossing at Modern Signals
Explains features of modern traffic signals that challenge our traditional street-crossing techniques, and strategies that are successful or dangerous and misleading
Fall 2005 Newsletter, AER Orientation and Mobility Division

Traffic Signal Enlightenment
A trip back to the time when we began to recognize the challenges of modern intersections and learn more about the mysterious world of traffic engineers and who to call about specific intersections. Includes links to some great resources on accessibility for blind people and several articles about advocacy efforts, and two articles by blind pedestrians / advocates:
  • "Maryland's Audible Traffic Signal Pilot Study" by Debbie Grubb (September 1996);
  • "Actuated Traffic Signals" By Mary T. (Terrie) Terlau, Ph.D. (May 1997).

    Right- and Left-Turn-On-Red Laws
    A brief history of the right-turn-on-red laws
    May 1997 Newsletter, Metropolitan Washington Orientation and Mobility Association

    Notes:
  • Common features to recognize actuation
  • Finding the Pedestrian Button
  • Separate Right-Turning Lanes
  • Aligning to Cross after Pushing the Pedestrian Pushbutton

    Pedestrian Clearance Intervals at Modern Intersections: Implications for the Safety of Pedestrians Who Are Visually Impaired" (Comment) by Barlow, Janet M., Franck, Lukas, Bentzen, Billie Louise and Sauerburger, Dona (2001). Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, AFB Press, NY, Nov. 2001, pages 663-667

    General pedestrian accessibility issues at traffic signals:

    Blind Pedestrian Killed; Intersection Design Contributing Cause
    A death and an injury resulted from the lack of any pedestrian buttons at actuated signals.
    Leading Pedestrian Interval – A Solution We've Been Waiting For!
    Benefits of Lead Pedestrian Intervals for pedestrians
    CROSSING STREETS WHERE THERE IS NO STOP SIGN OR TRAFFIC SIGNAL
    The crossings in the photos below have no stop sign or traffic signal ("no traffic control"),
    although there are stop signs for intersecting streets, and in the fourth photo there is a signal for traffic on the other side of the island.
    Photo shows a stick figure at a crosswalk on a 4-lane street with no stop signs or signals or intersecting streets for about a block in both directions. Photo shows a stick figure standing on a corner of a T-intersection, facing a 2-lane street. Beside the figure is the intersecting street, which has a stop sign. Photo shows a stick figure standing next to a mailbox at a T-intersection, facing a two-lane residential street that goes around a gentle curve to the right. Beside the figure is the intersecting street, which has a stop sign. Photo shows a person standing on an island waiting to cross one lane of right-turning traffic. A crosswalk is painted from the island across one lane to the sidewalk on the corner. A long line of cars is approaching the crosswalk, and there is no traffic signal for that traffic.

    For information about teaching students to recognize Situations of Uncertainty for gap judgment
    and other skills and concepts needed for crossings with no traffic signal or stop sign, go to

    Self-Study Guide: Preparing Visually Impaired Students to Assess and Cross Streets With No Traffic Control


    General information for crossings with no stop sign or traffic signal     (these links are to sections of the Self-Study Guide):

    Preparing Visually Impaired Students to Assess and Cross Streets With No Traffic Control: Self-Study Guide
    Introduction and links recommended for a thorough study of this topic

    Situations of Uncertainty for Gap Judgment
    Explains why it is important to teach our students to recognize situations where it is not certain as to whether there is enough time to cross before a vehicle will arrive.
    Teaching at Crossings With No Traffic Signal or Stop Sign
    A suggested list of concepts and skills (and activities for teaching them) to enable people to recognize situations of uncertainty for gap judgment (situations where they cannot hear or see the traffic well enough to know when it's clear to cross).
    Applications! Vignettes, Frequently Asked Questions, and Workshop Suggestions which includes:

    Assessment / training tools and strategies for crossings with no stop sign or traffic control:

  • Timing Method for Assessing the Detection of Vehicles (TMAD)
    The TMAD analyzes whether you can hear and/or see the vehicles with enough warning in that situation to know when it's clear to cross.
  • Determining Gaps in Approaching Traffic (was "TMASD")
    For students who can hear/(see) approaching vehicles from a distance, helps teach them to judge whether the vehicles are far/slow enough to allow time to cross
  • Procedure to Develop Judgment of the Detection of Traffic
    Teaches people to recognize situations where they can not detect traffic well enough to know if there is a sufficient gap to cross.
  • Scanning for Cars
    Strategies for scanning by people with visual impairments when crossing streets where there is no stop sign or traffic signal


    Related pages:

    Environmental Modifications to Improve Crossings with No Traffic Control
    Examples of modifications that make it easier and safer to cross streets with no traffic control

    Detecting Approaching Vehicles at Streets with No Traffic Control by Robert Wall Emerson and Dona Sauerburger (2008)
    Research of the ability to hear approaching traffic at crossings with no traffic control

    Separate Right-Turning Lanes
    Features of separate right-turning lanes and suggestions for dealing with them

    Are "Deaf-Blind Pedestrians" Street Signs Effective?
    Experiment to find out if a traffic sign saying "DEAF-BLIND PEDESTRIANS" makes it more likely that drivers will yield.

    Testing the Effectiveness of a Vibrotactile Device for Crossing Streets by Deaf-Blind People
    Uses the TMAD to determine how well the "Tactaid II" device, which changes sounds into vibrations, can be used by deaf-blind people to detect approaching vehicles.
    Journey to Understanding
    Chronicles the 20-year journey to understand crossings where there is no stop sign or traffic signal
    Acceptance Speech -- a tragedy and conflict with "best practice"
    My interest in these crossings was sparked by a tragedy in 1988 -- glimpse "behind the scenes" at the struggles to alert O&M about this concern and to figure out how to address it.
    Publications regarding crossing where there is no traffic signal or stop sign
    A list with links to most of my articles regarding crossings with no traffic control

    ROUNDABOUTS


    Roundabouts have many safety benefits over any other kind of intersection.
    Those safety benefits should be available to all pedestrians, including (or especially!) those who are most vulnerable.

    Photo shows a roundabout, starting with two-lane street with a crosswalk that cuts through a median strip. A sign in the median strip says 'yield to pedestrians.' About 10 feet past the crosswalk, there is a 'yield' sign where street merges into a circular roadway that goes around a large island.
    Pedestrians at roundabouts cross during a gap in traffic, which may be more difficult for pedestrians who are:

  • blind (see "Can training enable people who are visually impaired to cross safely at roundabouts?");

  • people with cognitive disabilities who need clear-cut rules, such as "cross when the WALK signal comes on, after checking in certain places for traffic movement;"

  • young children because the ability to determine speed/distance of approaching vehicles is not yet developed;

  • elderly because as we age, our ability to determine gaps deteriorates.

    These pedestrians -- children, elderly, and people with visual or cognitive disabilities -- need the safety benefits that roundabouts provide as much as (or more than!) others. Roundabouts can and should be accessible to all users.

    The following pages are related to roundabouts and blind people:
    Frequently asked questions
    Messages on the listserv of the TRB Joint Subcommittee on Roundabouts ANB20(3) address questions about people who are visually impaired at roundabouts.

    Environmental Modifications to Improve Crossings with No Traffic Control
    Illustrations of the use of roundabouts that improve (or fail to improve) crossing situations.

    From the past:
    Self-Study Guide: Preparing Visually Impaired Students to Assess and Cross Streets with No Traffic Control
    Explains how to teach people who are visually impaired the concepts and skills they need to assess and cross streets or lanes where there is no stop sign or traffic signal.

    Papers regarding roundabouts:
  • Inman, Vaughan W., Davis, Gregory W., and Sauerburger, Dona (2005). "Roundabout Access for Visually Impaired Pedestrians: Evaluation of a Yielding Vehicle Alerting System for Double-Lane Roundabouts" 2005 Roundabout Conference Proceedings, Transportation Research Board, Vail, Colorado
  • Inman, V. W., Davis, G. W., and Sauerburger, D. (2005) Pedestrian Access to Roundabouts: Assessment of Motorist Yielding to Visually Impaired Pedestrians and Potential Treatments to Improve Access. Federal Highway Administration Report DTFH61–02–C–00064

    Return to home page