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Traffic Safety Devices
Angled Crosswalks
Angled Crosswalks provide a center refuge for people who are walking. This enhances the likelihood of people walking looking at oncoming traffic before crossing the entire roadway.
Back-In Diagonal Parking
Back-in diagonal parking allows people driving to back into an angled parking space, resulting in safer access to sidewalks and better visibility while exiting the space.
Bike Boxes
A bike box is a design tool to prevent collisions between people biking and driving at intersections. It allows people riding a bike to wait in front of people driving at a red light. This makes them more visible and reduces the likelihood of a collision caused by a person driving turning across the path of a person on a bike traveling straight. See video.
Bike Traffic Signal
A bike traffic signal aids the safe and efficient movement of people on bicycles through intersections that serve high volumes of bicycle and motor vehicle traffic by giving both types of users a separate signal phase to travel through the intersection.
Chicanes
A chicane is a street designed to slow traffic by requiring motorists to follow a one-lane serpentine route. Typically, a chicane uses three or more horizontal deflections on alternating sides of the street. The design slows traffic and elicits a cautious response from motorists. Chicanes reduces vehicle speeds, eliminates straight site line, and have a potential to add more landscaping to a street.
Chokers
Chokers slow vehicles at a mid-point along the street and they create a clear transition between a commercial and a residential area. Chokers narrow overly wide intersections and midblock areas of streets and add room along the sidewalk or planting strip for landscaping or street furniture.
Crossing Islands enhance crossings for people walking, particularly at unsignalized crossing points. They are designed to highlight crossing locations and so that people driving reduce their speeds when approaching the crossings.
Curb Extensions
Curb extensions improve safety for people walking and driving at intersections by increasing visibility and reducing the speed of turning vehicles. They also encourage people walking to cross at designated locations, prevent people driving motor vehicles from parking at corners, and shorten crossing distance, thus reducing the amount of times people walking are exposed.
Green Bike Lane
Green bike lanes use green-colored pavement to increase the visibility of the bicycle lane in places where there is potential for conflict with motor vehicles. See video.
A Pedestrian-Activated Red Light, or pedestrian hybrid beacon (PHB), is a traffic control device to help people who walk and bike to cross busy streets safely. See video.
Protected Bike Lane
These are bike lanes that physically separate people biking from people driving. This separation can be achieved with barriers, differences in grade and on-street parking. Protected bike lanes greatly enhance both the perception and reality of bike safety. By providing a safer rider experience, these lanes have been shown to increase the number of people cycling and therefore improve overall safety.
Protected Intersection
Modeled after Dutch intersection design, the Protected Intersection brings the physical protection along with you as you ride through the crossing. A collection of design elements makes left turns simple and secure, right turns protected and fast, and provides straight through movements that minimize or eliminate conflicts from turning cars.
Raised Crosswalk
A raised crosswalk is a flat-topped speed table built as a pedestrian crossing. It may be constructed of asphalt, concrete or a combination of different materials. Raised crosswalks reduce vehicle speeds, raise driver and pedestrian awareness of the crossing location, and enhance the environment for people walking.
Raised Intersection
Raised intersections are flat raised areas covering an entire intersection. They are often built as a pedestrian crossing to slow vehicle traffic. Raised Intersections reduce vehicle speeds, enhance the environment for people walking, and improves safety for people walking and driving.
Sharrow
Shared lane markings, or sharrows, identify where people biking should position themselves within the travel lane. Where sharrows are present, people biking and driving share the lane. See video.
Speed Humps
Speed humps are raised areas of asphalt designed to reduce vehicle speeds. Speed humps are typically 14 feet long and 3 inches high. Speed humps help by reducing vehicle speeds and enhancing the environment for people walking and using crossings.
Speed Table
A speed table is a flat-topped speed hump often constructed with brick or other textured materials on the flat section. They slow vehicle traffic approaching the table to enhance the pedestrian environment. The wheelbase of a typical passenger car will fit on top of a speed table. Speed tables reduce vehicle speeds, enhance the pedestrian environment at pedestrian crossings.
Stutter Flash
A stutter flash increases driver awareness of potential pedestrian/vehicle conflicts at mid-block pedestrian crossings and intersections without traffic signals. Cars should stop when the signal is flashing and allow the pedestrian to cross. See video.
A traffic circle is a raised island placed in the middle of an intersection to calm traffic. People driving are required to slow to a speed that allows them to comfortably maneuver around the circle. Traffic circles manage traffic at intersections where volumes do not warrant a stop sign or a signal. They also reduce crash occurrence at the intersection of two local streets, and reduce vehicle speeds at the intersection.
Roundabout
A modern roundabout is an unsignalized circular intersection. Roundabouts are used to improve safety, increase intersection capacity and efficiency, reduce environmental impacts, and enhance community values. Additional benefits include lower costs over other types of intersections and greater design flexibility. Explore the benefits of roundabouts in-depth on the Roundabouts page.