Risk Analysis of an Uncontrolled Campus Crossing for a DeafBlind Student
Dona Sauerburger, Eugene Bourquin, Jolene Troisi, Cindi Lashinsky

(1) the likelihood that when it is quiet/clear and the pedestrian starts to cross, there is a vehicle close enough to reach the pedestrian during the crossing;
(2) if that happens, the likelihood that the driver will yield; and, if the driver does not yield,
(3) the likelihood of being seriously injured or killed when hit. The checklist includes factors which research indicates affect the likelihood of these outcomes. Marked crosswalks are not included in the checklist because studies indicate that they are not associated with a lower crash rate than unmarked crosswalks and, in some cases, may actually have a higher crash rate (Federal Highway Administration, 2005).

Risk Assessment for Student: Step by Step

Using the Risk Analysis Checklist to Analyze the Situation

Multiple threat?

Traffic engineers consider crossings with more than one lane from either direction (what they call a multiple threat) to present a risk that the drivers’ view of pedestrians in the crosswalk may be blocked by vehicles that are yielding to them, making other drivers less likely to stop for the pedestrian (Fisher & Garay-Vega, 2012). This is exactly how Dick and Lorraine Evensen and his guide dog were killed (Sauerburger, n.d.-b).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: There is only one lane from each direction.

Speed of drivers?

Studies indicate that yielding generally decreases as the speed of approaching vehicles increases, even when warning time is controlled (Bourquin et al., 2011; Katz et al., 1975).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: Vehicles were moving very slowly (they had just come from a stopped position only 50–60 feet away).

Are drivers expecting pedestrians?

Yielding is higher in environments where many pedestrians cross daily, such that they are highly expected (Li et al., 2024; Sucha et al., 2017).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: With hundreds of students crossing there every day, pedestrians are highly expected at this crossing.

Visibility / line of sight?

When the drivers’ line of sight or ability to see pedestrians is limited (for example, with a hill or bend in the road, or fog or poor lighting conditions), they are less likely to yield to them (Hakkert et al., 2002; Hu et al., 2024).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: It was daytime, so there was good visibility, and there was a good line of sight except for drivers in the garage – as they wait to enter the street, their view of pedestrians at the crosswalk is blocked by a post, but they can see the pedestrians as soon as they come out of the garage.

Road conditions?

When roads are icy or slick, statistics show that the number of vehicle–pedestrian crashes increases (Federal Highway Administration, 2008; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, n.d.).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: Good road conditions.

Group of pedestrians crossing with you?

Studies indicate that drivers are more likely to yield to groups of pedestrians than to a pedestrian crossing alone (Sun et al., 2002).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: AJ would probably be crossing alone at that time of day.

Pedestrian using a white cane?

Static cane display while waiting to cross produced only modest yielding effects (Bourquin et al., 2014), whereas one study indicated that using a cane while walking across the street increased yielding from 40% to 90% (Bourquin et al., 2011).
Conditions at AJ’s crossing: AJ uses a white cane for traveling.

Drivers’ community/culture (do drivers tend to yield to pedestrians there)?

My students and I will often leave this item blank if we do not have enough information, but we fill it in if we can observe what drivers do, or if residents report what they observed. For example, do pedestrians tend to wait for a gap in traffic because they do not expect drivers to yield? Or do drivers tend to stop for pedestrians? Sometimes we observe that drivers stop and wait for us while we are standing on the sidewalk discussing the crossing, which is a good clue that drivers there tend to yield.

In this case, there were very few pedestrians or vehicles to observe, so I would ordinarily leave that item blank. However, people who are DeafBlind and have limited ability to observe what is happening around them benefit from observations of situations so they are better able to analyze risks. So I decided to do a little experiment to find out whether drivers tended to yield at that crosswalk and then report the results to AJ.

For each trial, I stood at the crosswalk with a white cane and waited to step forward until after a driver had pulled out from the garage or stop sign and was moving toward me.
• When crossing from the south (with the garage and stop sign on my left) – I tried it with two drivers coming from the stop sign, and two from the garage. They all stopped for me.
• When crossing from the north (with the garage and stop sign on my right) – I tried it with two drivers coming from the stop sign, and one from the garage. They all stopped for me.
Conditions of drivers’ community/culture at AJ’s crossing: Based on our observations, AJ and I concluded that drivers at that crossing seemed very likely to stop for pedestrians with white canes.

Decision

Additional Consideration and Strategy for DeafBlind Travelers

Conclusion and Implications

References