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Paper Title:
Western Australian School
Crossing Safety Initiatives
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Authors:
Nick Mabbott
Abstract:
Western Australia is
continuously attempting to improve the already excellent safety
record of incidents at warden controlled school crossings. Recent
initiatives have included the use of flashing amber lights at crossings
in various locations and newly developed flags for the traffic wardens.
A literature review concerning colour, contrast and brightness of
the new flags was conducted. This project was supplemented with
a recognition study of the conspicuity of the flags in the field.
It was found that both traffic wardens and motorists agreed that
due to the colours and contrasts of the new flags, motorists were
able to see them from further away and were able to be better prepared
to stop at the crossing. It is recommended that the flags be tested
for luminosity and contrast and be presented to Standards Australia
for inclusion into the standards. Another study was conducted to
assess the safety of using flashing amber lights at school crossings.
The study assessed differences in location of the lights and when
they were activated, against motorist behaviour as seen on video.
The evidence suggested that the safest behaviour was evident when
the lights were installed at the crossing site itself and activated
by the warden for each individual crossing. This paper is a brief
review of the three projects and includes recommendations from the
three studies.
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