Pedestrian Safety Practitioners' Perspectives of Driver Yielding Behavior across North America

Abstract

This paper presents results from a recent Internet survey of practitioners in the pedestrian safety field about their perceptions of driver yielding behavior in cities throughout North America. As one of the first studies to attempt to understand driver and pedestrian interactions from a macro perspective, this research combined perceptions of local driver yielding rates in three crosswalk scenarios with open-ended comments to understand factors that may influence driver yielding behavior. Responses from 387 practitioners in 171 cities suggested that rates of driver yielding to pedestrians in marked crosswalks were related to characteristics such as social norms, roadway design, law enforcement, and pedestrian volumes. Respondents generally indicated that drivers were more likely to yield to pedestrians on roadways with fewer lanes and slower travel speeds. However, the results also suggested notable geographic differences in yielding culture. Practitioners indicated that crosswalk laws were rarely enforced in most communities. A theoretical framework for future empirical research on driver yielding as it relates to driving and walking culture, roadway design, crosswalk laws, and enforcement is provided.