Spontaneous order of pedestrian and vehicle intersection conflicts in the Indian context

Abstract

While transportation systems have traditionally been designed to isolate different modes of travel, another developing school of thought advocates removing space demarcations, abolishing rules, and encouraging interactions between different modes. As rules are lifted, road users must become more aware of the actions of those around them. In turn, spontaneous social order takes hold. This research explores the factors that influence when a pedestrian acquiesces to a vehicle within a space shared by both modes, or when a vehicle will yield to a pedestrian. Does the relative number of each mode make a difference? If so, will this shift take place when pedestrians outnumber vehicles by two, or at an even higher ratio?Data collection took place at intersections in India due to their abundance of intermodal conflicts. The variables explored included the quantity of conflicts, the mode dominance – in terms of whether pedestrians acquiesced to vehicles or vice versa – of the conflicts, the number of vehicles, the number of pedestrians, design elements, and vehicle speeds. Multivariate linear regressions and graphical analysis suggest that while the number of pedestrians is significantly related to the number of conflicts, it is the number of vehicles that is significantly related to mode dominance. The results also suggest that mode dominance shifts from vehicles to pedestrians as pedestrians begin to outnumber vehicles.