Investigating effect of surrounding factors on human behaviour at un-controlled mid-block crosswalks in indian cities

Abstract

The present study is conducted to comprehend the naturalistic behaviour of pedestrian at urban mid-block crosswalks due to surrounding factors under mixed traffic conditions in India. The research wok reported here mainly investigates the effect of individual characteristics reflected on crossing behaviour at nine study locations in different cities of India. The selected study sections show a wide variation due to city characteristics, roadway characteristics and geographical conditions. The study confirms that young pedestrians walk faster than the rest. Study results also indicate that city characteristics and geographical conditions significantly influences crossing behaviour of pedestrian. The average crossing speed of pedestrian is measured to be higher (1.205 m/s) in Mega city as compared to Metro city (1.036 m/s), indicating effect of city characteristics. Considering gender effect, it is conferred that, male pedestrians walks faster than female pedestrians. An average crossing speed of 1.15 m/s is recommended for operational analysis and design under mixed-traffic conditions, especially in India. Further, actual field observations confirmed that the male pedestrian bear lower values of delay compared to females, which indicates that female pedestrians bear longer waiting time to safely cross the road section. For pedestrians, minimum gap of 4.73 s is accepted by the young, which is also closer to the critical value, indicating that young pedestrians show higher risk-taking behaviour. Considering safety of pedestrians, an average value of 6.2 s is recommended for designing crossing facility, whereas at locations, where female or elder pedestrians are present in significant proportion, a higher value of 8 s, is recommended. It was also found that with increase in number of traffic lanes and vehicular flow, pedestrian crossing time increases, which forces pedestrians to perform stage-wise crossing. It is observed that delay at curb side is higher due to rejection of smaller gaps, but same gap can be accepted with increase in platoon size. The outcome of this research work may be considered as a strong base in light of reviewing current practices prevailing for designing pedestrian crossings at uncontrolled mid-block sections under mixed traffic condition.