Level of safety and crossing warrants for cross-walks using surrogate safety measures

Abstract

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users and they are highly susceptible to conflicts at mid-block cross-walk locations. They are prone to a high risk of injury from vehicular impact incidents and their decision making behaviour at unmarked cross-walks (UCWs) is more critical than at marked cross-walks (MCWs). The objective of this study was to determine level of safety thresholds and warrants for both marked and unmarked pedestrian crossing facilities at urban mid-block sections under mixed traffic conditions. Data were collected at MCWs and UCWs in four different locations in Trivandrum city, India. The crossing behaviours of pedestrians at both types of cross-walks were compared by analysing characteristics such as gap acceptance, a surrogate safety measure (post-encroachment time (PET)), waiting time, crossing time, platoon size, type of critical vehicle and critical gap. The multiple linear regression technique was used to develop gap acceptance models for MCWs and UCWs. The pedestrian level of safety (PLS) criterion is proposed; the PLS describes the safety of pedestrians at cross-walks and warrants for crossings based on PETs. The developed PLS thresholds and the pedestrian–vehicle interaction values were correlated to the PETs to develop the pedestrian crossing warrants.