The Effect of High-Visibility Enforcement on Driver Compliance with Pedestrian Right-of-Way Laws
4-Year Follow-Up
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Determines the extent of observed increases in motorist yielding nearly 4 years after the implementation of a high-visibility enforcement intervention program.
This is a follow-up to a previous study titled High-Visibility Enforcement on Driver Compliance With Pedestrian Right-of-Way Laws to determine the extent observed increases in driver yielding in the previous study persisted nearly 4 years after the high-visibility enforcement intervention program ended. The study involved no new enforcement or publicity. Observers collected data on staged and naturally occurring crossings at the same six sites used in the previous study and at the same six spillover effect sites where no enforcement had taken place. The same observation procedures were used as in the original study. Results showed yielding behavior continued on an upward trend with both the enforcement and generalization sites exhibiting significantly higher rates of driver yielding during the follow-up than at the end of the intervention almost 4 years earlier. Yielding rates averaged 76.5% at the enforcement sites and 77.0% at the generalization sites. Thus, above and beyond the significant increase documented by the original study from before to immediately after the intervention, this study showed an additional significant increase in yielding from the end of the intervention to the follow-up. The results suggest a notable and continuing increase in general deterrence, a fundamental change in driver behavior and courtesy to pedestrians crossing the road, or both. However, a caveat of the increased yielding results is that it is unknown if similar changes took place in surrounding localities that may suggest additional factors affecting change other than the HVE program.
