1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Pedestrian Hazard, Awareness, and Safety Expansion Act of 2023 or the PHASE Act of 2023 . 2. NIST innovative technologies to improve and enhance traffic control devices The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall transmit to the Secretary of Transportation potential solutions using innovative technologies to improve and enhance traffic control devices to better equip vehicle operators, including bicycles and protect pedestrians and vulnerable road users. The Director shall provide supporting evidence to ensure such potential solutions do not overwhelm, overstimulate, or otherwise distract vehicle operators, including bicyclists or pedestrians. Such potential solutions shall comply with all applicable Federal regulations. 3. Physical alternatives to protect pedestrians and vulnerable road users (a) Study The Secretary of Transportation shall carry out a study on developing physical alternatives to better protect pedestrians and vulnerable road users from traffic incidents that— (1) analyzes urban areas, as determined by the Bureau of the Census, in which pedestrian fatalities have increased in the data available as of the date of enactment of this Act to study where crashes involving pedestrians occur most frequently; (2) examine physical alternatives to reduce vehicle crashes with vulnerable road users and fatalities, including pedestrians