Alegría-Velasco, María F.

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    Metodología simplificada para la evaluación de instalaciones peatonales en zonas escolares urbanas
    (2008) Alegría-Velasco, María F.; Figueroa-Medina, Alberto M.; College of Engineering; Valdés Díaz, Didier; Colucci Ríos, Benjamín; Department of Civil Engineering; Bartolomei Suarez, Sonia
    The main purpose of this project is to facilitate the evaluation of pedestrian safety in school zones considering the condition of the pedestrian infrastructure, the traffic control devices and the pedestrian behavior. Four school zones in the Municipality of Mayagüez were selected to apply the inspection methodology and evaluate the existing pedestrian infrastructure by means of a checklist developed according to the Part 7 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The field inspection and the observations of pedestrian crossing the road assisted to analyze and compare patterns behavior based on the frequency, quality, and gender of school and non-school pedestrians. A survey of the pedestrians that crossed the road inadequately was performed to complement the field observations and find their attitudes about their behavior. Based on the inspection performed in the school zones selected, it is concluded that the pedestrian, particularly the traffic control devices, does not comply with MUTCD standards and guidelines. The pedestrian observations helped to indicate that school pedestrians are more probable to not follow the pedestrian road rules than non-school pedestrians. School pedestrians exhibit a more risky behavior when crossing the road by using the shortest path even when it is the most hazardous one. This behavior clearly indicates the lack of safety awareness of pedestrian about the high crash risk potential of the urban environment next to high volume roads. The deficiencies in the traffic control devices, by not complying to MUTCD standards and guidelines and the typical behavior of school pedestrians observed in the school zones severely affect road safety, contributing to increase the crash risk potential in school zones.