Unmarked Crosswalks

The New Jersey State Law on pedestrian crossing within a marked crosswalk states “…the driver of a vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to all allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway within a marked crosswalk, when the pedestrian is upon, or within one lane of, the half of the roadway, upon which the vehicle is traveling or onto which it is turning. Half of roadway means all traffic lanes conveying traffic in one direction of travel”. Several studies on pedestrian behavior in crosswalks have focused on whether pedestrians are less cautions in marked crosswalks than in unmarked crosswalks. The decision by pedestrians to be cautions or lack thereof may lead to an increase the frequency of interference to vehicles travelling along a street segment. A study by Mitman et al.(TRR 2198 pp23) found that pedestrians in unmarked crosswalk were more likely than pedestrians

In another study by Mitman et al.(10)(TRR 2198 pp29 for reference), it was found that : a) pedestrians are more cautions when crossing at unmarked crosswalks than at marked crosswalks; b) drivers are more likely to yield to pedestrians at marked crosswalks than at unmarked crosswalks. Studies by Knoblauch etl. al(7)( Check reference on pp 31 of TRR 2198) and Nitzburg and Knoblauch(8)(Check reference on pp 31 of TRR 2198) measured the effects of marked and unmarked crosswalks on driver and pedestrian behavior at un-controlled intersections on two-lane and three-lane street segments. They found no statistically significant difference in pedestrian assertiveness in marked and unmarked crosswalks. The study by Knoblauch et al.(7) also found that marked pedestrian crosswalks had no effect on drivers yielding for pedestrians. While the study by Nitzburg and Knoblauch(8) also found that drivers were less likely to yield to pedestrians at