Driver/Pedestrian Behavior at Marked and Unmarked Crosswalks in the Tahoe Basin

For more than thirty years, pedestrian safety studies have considered pedestrian-vehicle collision history and pedestrian and driver behavior at marked and unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled crossings. From 2005-2007, the UC Berkeley Traffic Safety Center, in a study funded by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), focused on developing a better understanding of driver and pedestrian behavior and safety in both marked and unmarked crosswalks in an effort to recommend more informed crosswalk policies. As a part of these efforts, a 2007 paper, “The Marked Crosswalk Dilemma: Uncovering Some Missing Links in a 35-Year Debate” was designed to fill key gaps in the literature by analyzing pedestrian and driver behavior and knowledge of right-of-way laws regarding marked and unmarked crosswalks throughout the Bay Area. The UC Berkeley study, as with most previous studies, focused on urban or suburban areas where the driver characteristics do not change significantly from day to day.Following this study was the recognition that similar research was needed in rural and recreational locations. As such, this paper summarizes results from field observations of driver and pedestrian behavior at marked and unmarked crosswalks at uncontrolled crossings during the summer in the Tahoe Basin of California. This study concludes that the behavior trends identified in the urban/suburban Bay Area study are largely similar in a rural/recreational context. The multiple threat scenario, however, is detected less frequently for the observed multi-lane roads.