Poinciana Crosswalk Driver Yield Rates Increase Significantly After Best Foot Forward Countermeasures and Enforcement

There’s good news for people walking and crossing the street at N. Doverplum Ave. and San Remo Road in Poinciana. Drivers are much more likely now than they were a few months ago to yield and let people cross safely in this marked crosswalk as Florida law requires.

Identifying the Need for Improvements

The intersection and crosswalk at N. Doverplum Ave. and San Remo Road was identified by the Best Foot Forward steering committee in 2017 as problematic with only 24% of drivers yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk. This was also the site of two recent crashes with drivers striking people trying to cross in the north side crosswalk.

In 2019, Osceola County installed rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at the crosswalks to alert drivers of people attempting to cross. The Florida driver yield law was enforced here by Osceola County Sheriff’s deputies in November 2020. Driver yield rates did improve from 24% to 50%, but BFF steering committee members knew it could be better.

In April 2021, Osceola County confirmed additional countermeasure enhancements to Doverplum Ave. & Ran Remo Rd, including:

• New crosswalk stop bars on Doverplum Ave. with accompanying signage (R1-6a).
• Stop bars on San Remo Rd. were relocated closer into the Doverplum Ave. intersection.
• Re-application of reflective sheeting on the flexstake posts to reinforce the right hand turning movement.

The results

After the additional low-cost enhancements, BFF data collectors conducted an audit to measure how the enhancements affected drive yielding behavior. The addition and relocation of stop bars and accompanying signage seem to help significantly and drivers who yielded did so further back.

• Driver yield rate increased 19 points from 50% to 69%. This is the highest yield rate observed at this crosswalk since Best Foot Forward began monitoring in 2017.
• Drivers were observed stopping further back from the the crosswalk on Doverplum Ave., with drivers stopping >30ft. increasing 27 points from 61% to 88%.

“It’s nice to see the improvements are making a difference. That is definitely our goal,” said Jack Lott with Osceola County Traffic Operations.