The Yield/Stop Sign Crosswalk Safety Project is aimed to eliminate pedestrian injury and fatalities in marked crosswalks, a place designed around safety and comfort. Even in these spaces, especially crosswalks that see minimal use with lots of cars passing through, injury is still very common around the nation. Traffic conditions around the country are getting worse and worse as the years press on, more drivers equals more risk for every party involved. With the help of the system, lots of casualties will be eliminated in a very specific, but common, type of crash. Users of the design will be pedestrians, who benefit from the safety, and cars, who are controlled by the system to create a safer area for people to cross the road.

The primary objective is to stop cars at a crosswalk when a pedestrian is present, especially at right turn lanes where cars are not required to stop. Another factor that can affect how safe intersections are is the frequency of use. Meaning that when cars are not expecting people to be in crosswalks, habits are made so by the time they see the person it is too late and an accident occurs. Each leads us into another very important goal, which has a factor of change so drivers just don't get used to another type of sign. Another sign could work short term, but an eventual accident would start to happen again. The project is related to civil and transportation engineering, which has a lot of regulations that the sign system needs to comply with, this is imperative for succeeding. The only way for the sign to ever be used on the road, is for it to pass through the rigorous trials of road safety standards. If the system can be road legal, there is a chance in the future for actual traffic management. The good news is that many parts that are planned to be used in the system comply with safety and regulations, but the position of the signs and illegal signage could still present a very large problem. 

For the system to detect a person in the crosswalk, infrared cameras can be used to pick up their heat signature. If the person walking has a ‘walk’ symbol from the already existing pedestrian symbol, then the Yield/Stop sign will activate to display a ‘Stop’ for cars that are passing through the intersection. The Yield/Stop sign will be made from a regular yield sign that is found at right turn lanes in an intersection. A modified version of the yield sign will be made by cutting out holes in the shape and letters of a stop sign and placing LEDs in the holed. This will create a dynamic where an unactivated sign looks no different from a regular yield sign, and can provide the use that it already has, telling cars to stop for other cars. When activated, the LEDs will light up and display a ‘stop’, telling cars to stop for pedestrians and cars. Basically the design is to take a sign and reporbuse it, but still keep its original function so it can work as intended. The signs power will be provided by a solar mounted on top. Here are the conditions for the ‘Yield’ to turn to a ‘Stop’, a pedestrian is detected by the inferred camera mounted on existing signals, the existing signals must show a walk sign, no jaywalking allowed. When these conditions are met, the stop sign is shown and cars must stop at the crosswalk to allow pedestrians to cross. When none or some of the conditions are met, there will only be a yield sign for cars to watch for other cars.

A couple of key steps will be needed to guide the project to success. Most of these steps are designing the different subsystems that go together to create the Yield/Stop sign as a whole. The first is to make the Yield/Stop sign by adding the appropriate shapes and letters using the LEDs. This is the backbone of the system and should be created first so it can provide support for all of the other subsystems. The second device, which is arguably more important that the sign itself, is the detection of pedestrians in the crosswalk. It would be very hard to have a dynamic sign that could not change and actually by dynamic. Once those two are created, other less important components can be sorted out, like power, housing of electronics and the code to run the system. The two major systems should be done first, and tested just to see if the sign can get running. Then the kinks can be sorted out of the first prototype, making a more streamlined and smoothly operating machine. 

Testing of the sign will include simple code that will check to see if the lights work, and if they can be turned on and off when necessary to display a ‘stop’ sign. It is best to keep the testing as simply as possible, keeping the list of factors that could affect the test very small. The success of the small test is also reassurance that when more moving parts are added so to speak, the system can still function on its original with more or different input from outside forces or other subsystems. The inferred system will be tested like the sign, just to make sure that it can detect a person.     

For the entire system to work, it will have to rely completely on the camera detention system, without it, it will be impossible for the system to function automatically. All of the other pieces are important, but there are still workarounds incase of malfunction or unexpected results, the camera cannot be like this. This means that extra care will need to be taken in order to make sure that the camera subsystem works perfectly and autonomously. 

The main components of the build are, stop sign, infrared camera, Arduino parts, pole to hold sign and camera, solar panel for power and large area to test. All of these parts add up to around 52.23$. This is just a rough estimate, this number only includes the large parts that are definitely required. Little parts are destined to change during the course of the project, so the cost is to be expected to increase. Calculating the number of time we have for construction, testing and redesigning, the dream salary for this project would be 1.36$ per hour if the cost does not go up.

All of the building and first construction will be completed the week of 10/10, the next week after that will be reserved for testing the first prototype. It is important to have ample time for each step, because it is very common for things to take longer than expected. After the first build and test, the days from 10/24 to 11/2 will be given to correct all of the kinks that show up during the first tests. It is inevitable that something will go wrong, so it is important to give time to allow for change in the system. Once the system is up and running with no flaws, a report and display will be completed for 11/16, this will be a final write up of the project and the journey to test and work out all of the problems within the system.       

Bibliography: 

Pedestrian safety. NHTSA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.nhtsa.gov/road-safety/pedestrian-safety

National Pedestrian Safety month 2021 - traffic safety marketing. National Pedestrian Safety Month 2021. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov/sites/tsm.gov/files/2021-10/THE%20FINAL%20NHTSA%20Ped%20Toolkit%20Layout_508_9.30.pdf 

2020 data: Pedestrians - Transportation. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813310 

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for streets and Highways. MUTCD. (2022, August 1). Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/index.htm 

Ink, S. (2015, July 24). Conventional crosswalks. National Association of City Transportation Officials. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/intersection-design-elements/crosswalks-and-crossings/conventional-crosswalks/ 

Schmitt, A., Miller, S., Samoylov, M., & Kuntzman, G. (2019, June 14). Building a safer mid-block crossing. Streetsblog USA. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/06/14/building-a-safer-mid-block-crossing/ 

YouTube. (2022). Can this "Hawk" Stop Light make walking feel Safe again? YouTube. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHX8ezW2XGs.

Home. NHTSA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.nhtsa.gov/