A comparison of gateway in-street sign configuration to other driver prompts to increase yielding to pedestrians at crosswalks.
Three low-cost signs placed in the middle and edges of the road make drivers yield as well as expensive flashing beacons.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested a cheap street sign trick. They placed bright signs in the middle of the road and on both curb lines.
They switched the signs on and off on different days. Then they counted how many drivers stopped for people in the crosswalk.
What they found
When the gateway signs were up, almost every driver stopped. The yield rate matched the pricey flashing beacon systems.
The signs cost a fraction of the high-tech lights, yet gave the same safety boost.
How this fits with other research
Martinez-Onstott et al. (2016) also used a low-cost cue—simple graphic feedback—to make landscapers use safety gear. Both studies show plain prompts can fix adult risk behavior.
Gelino et al. (2024) looked at student ride choices. They found long waits push kids toward unsafe rides. Hsieh et al. (2014) shows quick visual cues can pull drivers toward safe choices. Together they hint: keep prompts fast and visible.
Donnelly et al. (2021) cut hospital crises with visual aids and early rewards. Like the gateway signs, small front-end changes stopped bigger problems later.
Why it matters
You can ask your city to install gateway signs at busy crosswalks near schools or clinics. No wires, no batteries, no weeks of labor—just three signs and immediate driver compliance. Start with one crossing, collect yield data for a week, then show the traffic department the jump in safety. Cheap, fast, and evidence-based.
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Join Free →Map one high-risk crosswalk, snap photos, and email public works the gateway layout with yield counts from K et al. (2014).
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Increasing motorists' yielding of the right of way to pedestrians in crosswalks reduces the number of collisions between motorists and pedestrians. In this study we examined a gateway in-street sign configuration (1 in-street sign installed between the 2 travel lanes in each direction, and 1 on both edges of the roadway in each direction) on multilane roads. The first experiment compared the efficacy of adding multiple in-street signs used in a gateway configuration with a single sign between the 2 travel lanes in each direction. The second experiment compared the gateway in-street sign configuration with a more expensive pedestrian hybrid beacon. The third experiment compared the gateway in-street sign configuration with the more expensive rectangular rapid flashing beacon. The results demonstrated that the gateway in-street sign configuration produced very high levels of driver yielding, and that it was as effective as the 2 more expensive treatments.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jaba.103