Effects of pedestrians' visibility and signs on motorists' yielding.

A field experiment was carried out in which a pedestrian attempted to evoke motorists' stopping at a marked crosswalk during the daytime. Previous research suggested that reflective clothing worn by pedestrians at night might increase the ability of motorists to see pedestrians and to take precautionary measures when driving. In the present study, the effects of a pedestrian wearing bright versus drab clothing on motorists' behavior were assessed. Motorists were more likely to stop for a brightly clothed pedestrian. In addition, the brightly clothed pedestrian did not have to wait as long before eliciting a stop. One explanation is that the bright clothing worn by the pedestrian made more salient the motorist's legal duty to stop for the pedestrian in a crosswalk. The presence of a warning sign located 48 meters before the crosswalk had no significant effect on motorists' yielding under daytime conditions.