According to this letter, there was an effort in 2022 to install a HAWK light at the interesection of Reno and Rodman.
Rather than installing a Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (AKA a high-intensity activated crosswalk beacon / HAWK), DDOT chose to install a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon(RRFB).
Fellow Cleveland Park neighbors will be familiar with the HAWK beacon if they’ve ever crossed Connecticut avenue at the crosswalk between Byblos Deli and the Cleveland Park Bar and Grill / Fat Pete’s. The pedestrian pushes a “beg button” and a few seconds later the lights above the intersection flash yellow and then show a solid red light. But then a few seconds after showing a solid red light they start blinking red alternating left/right.
This alternating blinking red is confusing for drivers. It is the same flashing left/right red patter used by railroad crosswalks and school buses to mean “stop until these lights stop blinking”, but for the HAWK apparently means “go if you don’t see a pedestrian” – some drivers come to a complete stop and stay there until the lights are off, some come to a stop and then go as if it were a stop sign, and some just blow right through it.
As anyone who has tried to cross with the HAWK light on Connecticut knows, far too many drivers ignore it completely.
The likely reason that DDOT chose a HAWK light instead of a full red/yellow/green stoplight is that the HAWK light is only on for a few seconds and then starts flashing red – allowing cars to go sooner than a full stoplight.
DDOT probably looked at the FHWA study that says that HAWK lights result in an 86% reduction in crashes (https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/10045/), but newer research by UMass shows that nearly 1/3rd of drivers run a solid red light at HAWK crossings on straight, flat roads. At intersections with large elevation changes like Newark, Ordway, and Rodman we’d expect there to be far more than 1/3rd of drivers blowing through the pedestrian signal.
The only reason HAWK lights are “safe” is because they are confusing for drivers, causing them to slow down. You’d have the same effect from placing a dancing clown in the middle of the intersection – drivers would be confused and slow down.
The confusion caused by HAWK lights is well documented, here are just a half dozen TV news segments showing drivers confused by HAWK lights:
So instead of putting in a HAWK light at Reno and Rodman, DDOT put in a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon(RRFB). The RRFB works by the pedestrian hitting a beg button and then yellow lights flash on either side of the crosswalk. As documented in this blog, drivers regularly blow through the crosswalk when the yellow flashing light are lit even when pedestrians are in the crosswalk.
This post goes into more detail why RRFB beacons don’t work.
DDOT needs to fix the intersections at Ordway, Newark, and Rodman by adding four-way stop signs or standard red/green/yellow stoplights. HAWK lights and RRFBs don’t work.
