Pedestrian and motorist comprehension of pedestrian laws and traffic control devices

This study was conducted to evaluate the comprehension of pedestrian safety issues by both pedestrians and motorists. It included a nationwide survey of individuals who were asked various questions related to assessments of pedestrian accident involvement, pedestrian legal issues, and pedestrian traffic control devices. Visitors at selected driver license examination stations in each of the contiguous states were asked to complete the questionnaires. In addition to these locations, questionnaires were distributed by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) because of the overrepresentation of elderly pedestrians in fatal pedestrian accidents. These questionnaires were completed by participants in the AARP defensive driving training courses. There were a total of 3,595 questionnaires returned from the examination stations and 1,231 questionnaires returned from the 55 Alive courses. The responses were examined to determine if all of the respondents understood the rights and obligations as pedestrians and motorists. The data was disaggregated based on their personal experience with pedestrian issues and the demographic information collected from the respondents to determine if significant differences exist between the various response groups. It was found that a high percentage of respondents are knowledgeable of the laws governing pedestrian and vehicle interaction. There are, however, a number of respondents that are unclear about the meanings of important traffic control devices and about specific safe pedestrian habits. This was also true for the respondents' subjective assessment of the problem of pedestrian collisions.