April 14, 2014
Operational guidance for bicycle signals
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) released a report offering operational guidance on bicycle-specific traffic signals. The report summarizes previous research and literature on this topic, reviews current engineering design and operational guidance documents, and presents the results of a survey of jurisdictions about their current deployments if bicycle-specific signals.
The report also summarizes research (based on video recordings) into cyclist behavior at signalized intersections in Portland, Eugene, Corvallis, Beaverton and Clackamas County, OR. These intersections had both bicycle-specific and vehicle-only signals. A total of 4,673 cyclists were observed. For each cyclist observed arriving on red, a set of descriptive variables were collected (e.g., age, sex, helmet use, presence of cargo, arrival in group). Time-based event data were collected to establish reaction times, crossing times, waiting time, gap acceptance, and saturation flow rates. Compliance behavior was also established for these cyclists.