• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.12-19
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• 2014

A signal plan focused on vehicle traffic could easily overlook vulnerable priority signals, although the importance of vulnerable movements is increasingly recognized in recent years. Especially, the vulnerable are sometimes faced with dangerous situations when crossing roads with a signal plan based on design values of average, non-vulnerable persons. This study is focused on how to minimize the vehicle delay while simultaneously considering traffic flow and providing traffic safety by increasing road crossing time for pedestrians. For this purpose, a priority signal control strategy for the vulnerable, considering vehicle traffic flow, has been tested. Practical implication and a microscopic computer simulation has shown that the proposed method could provide a small decrease (about 6.2%) in pedestrian delay, a small increase (about 8.5~13.3%) in travel speed of passing traffic, and a considerable decrease (16.2~26.9%) in vehicle travel time. These findings suggest that the proposed signal control strategy could increase pedestrian safety and diminish delay of vehicle travel.