Pedestrian Flow Characteristics at Signalized Intersections in Mixed Traffic Situations: A Case Study in Kolkata, India

Abstract

This paper focuses on the behaviour of pedestrians when they cross at signalized intersection under mixed traffic situations. Based on a field study at a typical signalized intersection in the commercial hub in the city of Kolkata, the paper describes various characteristics of pedestrian movements. Several attributes like width of the road, age and gender of the pedestrian and if they are carrying any baggage were considered at the time of performing such analysis. The age and gender of pedestrians were found to have an impact on their speeds; however, children were observed to walk faster since they are accompanied by their parents in most occasions. The speed of panic-stricken pedestrians who prefer to run on the zebra marking while crossing the road at intersection was observed to be quite high. Interestingly, the effect of carrying baggage on walking speeds was found to be insignificant at the study site. Accordingly, the current study made an attempt to further investigate the fact by conducting an informal opinion poll. The poll of about 50 road users revealed that since most of them walk towards their office or business centre, they usually carry lighter baggage and quite often they are compelled to walk fast. Further, at crosswalk, speed does not vary to a considerable extent with the increase of flow; this attributes to the absence of confined flow. The observed flow parameters were plotted and the scattered diagrams indicate widespread data points that largely follow the Greenberg’s logarithmic model.