The purpose of the study reported herein was to assess the performance of Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) standard pedestrian signal assemblies according to the safety-performance evaluation guidelines included in the second edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) (1). A survey of the Roadside Safety Pooled Fund members was conducted to gather current practices and identify common configurations of the pedestrian signal assemblies. Engineering analysis was performed to predict the behavior of the assemblies during and after impact. Three selected configurations were evaluated with full-scale crash testing. The crash tests were performed in accordance with MASH Test 3-61 and MASH Test 3-62 conditions.
This report provides details of the survey results, the engineering analysis, and the performance assessment of the MUTCD Pedestrian signal assemblies in accordance with MASH TL-3 evaluation criteria for support structures.
The first two pedestrian signal configurations crash tested did not meet the performance criteria for MASH TL-3 support structures. A third pedestrian signal configuration was investigated through research and development (R&D) tests based upon MASH Test 3-61 and 3-62 conditions. The R&D tests met the MASH evaluation criteria for TL-3 support systems that were able to be assessed.
