Effectiveness of Supplementary Signage in Improving Driver Understanding of Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon Intervals

Pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHBs) have been increasingly implemented across the United States to enhance pedestrian safety at midblock and unsignalized crossings. However, given driver confusion and lack of understanding of proper driving actions, particularly during the Flashing Red interval, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) recommends the use of supplementary signage to improve driver understanding and compliance. This study evaluated the effectiveness of eight candidate supplementary signage options, including MUTCD-recommended signs, signs used by several transportation agencies, and three newly developed signage options, by assessing driver ratings through paired t-tests. Using multiple linear regression model, the study also evaluated sign design features and messaging strategies and used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to investigate the effect of demographic characteristics, driver travel patterns, and PHB familiarity to better understand how elements of a sign and other factors are associated with signage effectiveness. The results revealed that the MUTCD (2023) recommended supplementary signs received relatively lower ratings, indicating a need for a reevaluation of current MUTCD recommendations. Conversely, the supplementary sign used with PHBs in Texas was rated significantly higher among all signage options evaluated in this study. Furthermore, use of a single sign panel, color differentiation on the top text row, and symbols significantly increased the perceived effectiveness of the signage. The findings of the study offer practical recommendations for transportation agencies to improve the operational and safety improvement of PHBs with supplementary signage. Further, it provides insights into effective signage development strategies to improve user understanding of new/novel traffic control devices.