Pedestrian Distribution Research Articles

A novel extended social force model for studying the impact of the heterogeneity of pedestrian physical fitness on emergency evacuation efficiency

Emergencies in public places, particularly confined crowded areas, will disrupt the stability of dense crowds and consequently lead to accidents. To promote public emergency safety, there is a pressing need for efficient modeling methods to investigate the evacuation mechanism in these places and improve the social public safety. This study proposes a Physical Fitness Heterogeneity based Social Force Model (PFH-SFM) that takes into account the heterogeneous desired evacuation velocity caused by the heterogeneity of pedestrian physical fitness, by means of developing the normalized desired velocity ratio. Then, we use PFH-SFM to investigate the relationships between the escape rate and the desired velocity, and between the evacuation duration and the desired velocity in terms of various group sizes with heterogeneous physical fitness, the relationship between the percentage of reduction in evacuation duration and desired velocity when including weak pedestrians, the pedestrian distribution in the evacuation process, the relationship between the total evacuation duration and the desired velocity in terms of various proportions of weak pedestrians and the relationship between the evacuation duration and the desired velocity in terms of various normalized starting and ending velocity ratios by considering various group sizes, respectively. The findings of this study show that the existence of a certain small proportion of pedestrians with weak physical fitness can promote global evacuation dynamics, especially in the case of high crowded density, and can reduce evacuation duration by up to 20% in our experiments. Additionally, when the percentage of pedestrians with weak physical fitness is relatively high, they tend to have a detrimental effect on the evacuation efficiency. Furthermore, there exists a moderate normalized desired starting velocity ratio that maximizes the overall evacuation efficiency; on the other hand, the lower the normalized desired ending velocity ratio is, the more efficient the evacuation is. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first time to introduce the concepts of normalized desired starting and ending velocity ratios and innovatively analyzes the impact of the continuously changing desired velocity of pedestrians on the evacuation efficiency in multi-exit scenarios. The results offer valuable insights for relevant stakeholders to formulate effective evacuation plans, so as to enhance urban emergency capacity and minimize social and economic losses.

A novel model for real-time risk evaluation of vehicle–pedestrian interactions at intersections

Safety decisions for vehicles at an intersection rely on real-time, objective and continuous assessment of risks in vehicle–pedestrian interactions. Existing surrogate safety models, constrained by ideal assumptions of constant current speed and reliant on interaction points, often misjudge risks, and show inefficiency, inaccuracy and discontinuity. This work proposes a novel model for evaluation of those risks in vehicle–pedestrian interactions at intersections, which abstracts the pedestrian distribution density around a vehicle into a generalized model of driver-pedestrian interaction preferences. The introduction of two conceptions: ’driving risk index’ and ’driving risk gradient,’ facilitates the delineation of driving spaces for identifying safety–critical events. By means of the trajectory data from three intersections, model parameters are calibrated and a multidimensional vehicle–pedestrian interaction risk (VPIR) model is proposed to adapt the complex and dynamic characteristics of vehicle–pedestrian interactions at intersections. Commonly used surrogate safety models, such as Time to Collision (TTC), are selected as benchmark models. Results show that the proposed model overcomes the limitations of the existing interaction-point-based models, and offers a ideal assessment of driving risks at intersections. Finally, the model is illustrated with a case study that assesses the risks in vehicle–pedestrian interactions in varied scenarios and the case study indicates that the VPIR model works well in evaluating vehicle–pedestrian interaction risks. This work can facilitate humanoid learning in the autonomous driving domain, and achieve an ideal evaluation of vehicle–pedestrian interaction risks for safe and efficient vehicle navigation through an intersection.

A Statistical Study of the Pedestrian Distribution in a Commercial Wholesale Centre Based on the Traffic Spatial Structure

A Statistical Study of the Pedestrian Distribution in a Commercial Wholesale Centre Based on the Traffic Spatial Structure

The study on mechanical model considering optimal self-adaption in the bottleneck area

It aims to solve the problem that the evacuation state of pedestrians depicted by the traditional social force model in a crowded multiexit scenario has a relatively large difference with the actual state, especially the 'optimal path' considered by the self-driving force is the problem of shortest path, and the multiexit evacuation mode depicted by the 'herd behavior' is the local optimum problem. Through in-depth analysis of actual evacuation data of pedestrians and causes of problem, a new crowd evacuation optimization model is established in order to effectively improve the simulation accuracy of crowd evacuation in a multi-exit environment. The model obtains the direction of motion of pedestrians using a field model, fully considers the factors such as exit distance, distribution of pedestrians and regional crowding degree, makes a global optimization for the self-driving force in the social force model using a centralized and distributed network model, and makes a local optimization for it using an elephant herding algorithm, so as to establish a new evacuation optimization method for optimal self-adaption in the bottleneck area. The performance status is compared between the improved social force model and the new model by experiments, and the key factors that affect the new model are analyzed in an in-depth manner. The results show that the new model can optimize the optimal path choice at the early stage of evacuation and improve the evacuation efficiency of pedestrians at the late stage, so as to ensure relatively even distribution of pedestrians at each exit, and also make the simulated evacuation process be more real; and the improvement in overall evacuation efficiency is greater when the number of pedestrians to be evacuated is larger. Therefore, the new model provides a method to solve the phenomenon of disorder in overall pedestrian evacuation due to excessive crowd density during the process of multi-exit evacuation.

Development of a time pressure-based model for the simulation of an evacuation in a fire emergency

The study of pedestrian behaviour in a fire emergency is essential for effectively reducing the number of casualties. However, most studies only consider the effect of fire on pedestrian behaviour and ignore the effect of a fire emergency on pedestrian psychology. In this study, we introduce a method of assessing the pedestrian time pressure within a cellular automaton model using the available safe egress time and required safe egress time in fire evacuations. Moreover, a more realistic reflection of the evacuation process in a fire emergency is obtained by introducing Pyrosim to compute the fire floor field and by proposing a sequential update method based on time pressure. To assess the model, we conduct sensitivity analyses on model parameters across various environmental configurations. Numerical simulation results show that fire accelerates the evacuation rate and radiated heat transfer and temperature have the greatest effects on the time pressure of pedestrians in a fire evacuation. The distribution of pedestrians is U-shaped owing to fire avoidance behaviour and in the later stage of evacuation, pedestrians keeping away from heated walls. The trend of time pressure over time has a bimodal distribution as pedestrians initially pass the fire and the environment then becomes untenable as the fire fully develops. In addition, the exit location affects the evacuation process, with a symmetrical positioning improving the evacuation efficiency. We verify the model in a series of physical experiments. The agreement between the numerical simulation results and experimental results demonstrates that the time pressure-based model is suitable for simulating the route choice behaviour and evacuation process in fire emergencies.

Analysis of local density during football stadium access: Integrating pedestrian flow simulations and empirical data

This study analyzes numerically the access of football fans to a typical football stadium through pedestrian flow simulations. With this aim, we introduce a novel framework to address the difficulty of simulating pedestrian dynamics in highly complex geometries with multiple accesses. The framework consists of a combination of the Social Force Model (SFM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics tools to calculate multiple desired velocity maps. The introduction of this framework allows the predefinition of the desired velocity fields for the complex geometries in both the interior and surrounding area of the stadium. We validate the results of the proposed framework using actual entry-rate data from the turnstiles of three gates for 15 matches provided by the football club. Remarkably, the validation process allows us to describe the temporal evolution of the spatial distribution of pedestrians during their arrival with a single set of parameters valid for all the analyzed matches. Finally, we assess the potential fatality risk based on the local pedestrian density varying the total number of attendees and their arrival rate. The outcome evidences permanent clogs emerge at the entrance in the most extreme cases with high attendance or low standard deviation of the arrival rate, indicating the possibility of fatality occurrence.

Emergency exit layout planning using optimization and agent-based simulation

Evacuation preparedness includes ensuring proper infrastructure, resources and planning for moving people from a dangerous area to safety. This is especially important and challenging during mass gatherings, such as large concerts. In this paper, we present the Emergency Exit Layout Problem (EELP) which is the problem of locating a given number of emergency exits and deciding their width such that the time it takes to evacuate the crowd from an arena is minimized. The EELP takes into account the geography of the arena and its surroundings, as well as the number of pedestrians in the crowd and the distribution of these within the arena. The EELP is formulated as a two-stage stochastic mixed integer linear program to handle the uncertainty related to the location of the possible incidents and the distribution of the pedestrians. Two cases are studied, a large concert planned at the Leangen trotting track in Trondheim and a smaller indoor arena. For each case, the EELP is solved for different scenarios, and the suggested layouts are evaluated using an agent-based simulation model. In particular, the potential of incorporating detailed assessment regarding the location and probability of specific incidents and the distribution of pedestrians are investigated. The computational study shows that making a more detailed risk assessment has little effect on the large concert, but a significant impact on the location of the emergency exits for the smaller indoor case. The results also indicate that it is more important to consider the location and probability of specific incidents rather than the pedestrian distribution.

An analytical solution of the maximum response of the coupled multiple parallel modulated pedestrian-bridge system

This paper studies analytically the steady state response of the generalised coupled modulated pedestrian-beam system. Pedestrians are considered as modulated spring–mass–damper systems with and without a partially attached mass to the structural system. The governing non-dimensional parameters that defined the system’s behaviour are found in an analytical framework. An application of the expression is developed, and a parametric analysis is presented considering a reference pedestrian. The frequency shift effect and the dynamic amplification factor, DAFHSI, of the coupled pedestrian-beam system are characterised. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a closed-form solution of the generalised coupled modulated pedestrian-beam system. This solution can consider any distribution of pedestrians and any definition of the pedestrian SDOF properties. A simple and representative example is presented to demonstrate the utility of the found expression in the context of footbridge dynamics.

Soft omega joint for selective weakening of core walls in large precast commercial buildings

Commercial malls and similar large low-rise multi-storey building typologies are often constructed employing precast frame structures. Wall cores surrounding stairs and elevators often occupy a small area if compared to the frame area of large floors. Generally, these cores need to be decoupled from the frame structure, which is designated as the lateral load resisting system, given that, if rigidly connected to the frame, their high stiffness would draw seismic actions not compatible with their capacity or with economical/feasible foundation systems. The necessary core decoupling from the frame is hence generally made by horizontal structural joints of considerable width to avoid pounding, given the peculiar lateral flexibility of precast frame structures. However, these large joints are in reality highly complex, since they need to be compatible with internal finishes, pedestrian distribution and often fire compartmentation requirements. The present paper proposes an alternative to the use of decoupling frame-core joints consisting in deformable vertical joints made by omega-bent aluminum sheets and insulation strips to be inserted during production in the wall elements. The proposed omega-profiles, while avoiding the use of horizontal joints and keeping the fire compartmentation capacity of the core walls, selectively weaken the wall elements, lowering their stiffness and allowing for lateral deformation capacities compatible with that of frames. The mechanical behaviour of the proposed joint is assessed by lateral cyclic tests on full-scale wall panels with inner vertical voids surrounded by a solid frame connected with mechanical devices to the foundation beams. The comparison with the test results of a benchmark precast wall not provided with the proposed joints allows to quantify the enhanced flexibility and displacement capacity of the wall with omega joints and to interpret the role of the joints in modifying the resistance mechanism of the wall subjected to lateral loads. Moreover, the results of a non-linear numerical model based on an ideal joint behaviour allow to indirectly highlight the soft joint contribution to the wall behaviour under lateral load.

Built environment influence on the incidence of elderly pedestrian collisions in a medium-large city in southern Brazil: a spatial analysis

Trauma disproportionately affects vulnerable road users, especially the elderly. We analyzed the spatial distribution of elderly pedestrians struck by vehicles in the urban area of Maringa city, from 2014 to 2018. Hotspots were obtained by kernel density estimation and wavelet analysis. The relationship between spatial relative risks (RR) of elderly run-overs and the built environment was assessed through Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Incidents were more frequent in the central and southeast regions of the city, where the RR was up to 2.58 times higher. The QCA test found a significant association between elderly pedestrian victims and the presence of traffic lights, medical centers/hospitals, roundabouts and schools. There is an association between higher risk of elderly pedestrians collisions and specific elements of built environments in Maringa, providing fundamental data to help guide public policies to improve urban mobility aimed at protecting vulnerable road users and planning an age-friendly city.

Future pedestrian location prediction in first-person videos for autonomous vehicles and social robots

Future pedestrian trajectory prediction in first-person videos offers great prospects to help autonomous vehicles and social robots to enable better human-vehicle interactions. Given an egocentric video stream, we aim to predict the location and depth (distance between the observed person and the camera) of his/her neighbors in future frames. To locate their future trajectories, we mainly consider three main factors: a) It is necessary to restore the spatial distribution of pedestrians in 2D image to 3D space, i.e., to extract the distance between the pedestrian and the camera which is often neglected. b) It is critical to utilize neighbors’ poses to recognize their intentions. c) It is important to learn human-vehicle interactions from the pedestrian’s historical trajectories. We propose to incorporate these three factors into a multi-channel tensor to represent the main features in real-life 3D space. We then put this tensor into an innovative end-to-end fully convolutional network based on transformer architecture. Experimental results reveal our method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods on public benchmarks MOT15, MOT16 and MOT17. The proposed method will be useful to understand human-vehicle interaction and helpful for pedestrian collision avoidance.

Identification of social groups and waiting pedestrians at railway platforms using trajectory data.

To investigate the impact of social groups on waiting behaviour of passengers at railway platforms a method to identify social groups through the monitoring of distances between pedestrians and the stability of those distances over time is introduced. The method allows the recognition of groups using trajectories only and thus opens up the possibility of studying crowds in public places without constrains caused by privacy protection issues. Trajectories from a railway platform in Switzerland were used to analyse the waiting behaviour of passengers in dependence of waiting time as well as the size of social groups. The analysis of the trajectories shows that the portion of passengers travelling in groups reaches up to 10% during the week and increases to 20% on the weekends. 60% of the groups were pairs, larger groups were less frequent. With increasing group size, the mean speed of the members decreases. Individuals and pairs often choose waiting spots at the sides of the stairs and in vicinity of obstacles, while larger groups wait close to the platform entries. The results indicate that passengers choose waiting places according to the following criteria and ranking: shortest ways, direction of the next intended action, undisturbed places and ensured communication. While individual passengers often wait in places where they are undisturbed and do not hinder others, the dominating comfort criterion for groups is to ensure communication. The results regarding space requirements of waiting passengers could be used for different applications. E.g. to enhance the level of service concept assessing the comfort of different types of users, to avoid temporary bottlenecks to improve the boarding and alighting process or to increase the robustness of the performance of railway platforms during peak loads by optimising the pedestrian distribution.

ANALYSIS OF FACTORS OF PEDESTRIANS’ SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION IN MEIEKI DISTRICT NAGOYA USING MOBILE PHONE LOCATION DATA

In this study, we analyzed the factors affecting the spatial distribution of pedestrians in the Meieki district of Nagoya by comparing a log-log model with a generalized linear model. We classified all the factor variables into four categories. To compare the importance of each variable in the model, we introduced mean standardized partial differential coefficients value. The results show that the generalized linear model is superior to the log-log model and the spatial distribution of pedestrians in the Meieki district is strongly correlated with the segment angular integration value(R=1200).

Simulation investigation on crowd evacuation strategies for helping vulnerable pedestrians at different stages of egress

In emergencies, evacuations move pedestrians to safety. Extensive research has investigated strategies that can improve evacuation efficiency of pedestrian crowds in various contexts. However, most of this research considers pedestrians as homogeneous agents and the question of how vulnerable pedestrians can be supported in evacuations has not been convincingly resolved. Here, we focus not only on pedestrians with the same characteristics but also on vulnerable pedestrians defined by moving at a lower speed or being located further away from exits. We investigate strategies for helping these vulnerable pedestrians in three evacuation stages: the pre-evacuation stage where vulnerable pedestrians can respond to incidents quickly, the response stage where vulnerable pedestrians can be preferentially assigned to exits in the case of limited exit resources, and the evacuation phase where we place an obstacle in front of the exit. Our simulation results indicate that the effectiveness of these strategies depends on crowd characteristics and contexts (e.g., crowd size and pedestrian initial distribution), and different strategies may have other consequences, such as making pedestrians experience a higher accumulated force or walk longer distances. We found that only in some cases machine learning methods including kernel naïve Bayes and Linear SVM can predict which strategy will work best based on the initial distribution of pedestrians, suggesting that at least sometimes it may be possible to select strategies based on observed conditions. Our work highlights the importance of context and heterogeneous populations when developing strategies for evacuations and may thus be helpful for crowd safety and evacuation management.

The incidence burden of unreported pedestrian crashes in Illinois

Objective Communities with high rates of pedestrians struck by motor vehicles may miss out on mitigation resources and suffer worse medical outcomes if crashes there go unreported to police. This study investigates the places, people, and communities in Illinois where struck pedestrians are most likely to go unreported. A better understanding of the true burden and distribution of struck pedestrians will help guide policy and direct investments and interventions where they are most needed. Methods Hospital records of pedestrians treated for injuries sustained by a motor vehicle that were not able to be linked with a corresponding crash report across three consecutive years are investigated. Discordance rates of struck pedestrians are calculated and disaggregated by region. A presentation of summary statistics is accompanied by an ordinary least squares predictive model to estimate the relationship between discordant struck pedestrians and sociodemographic factors. Results The incidence of unreported struck pedestrians was not randomly distributed. Blacks struck by a motor vehicle were disproportionately likely to go unreported to police. Zip codes with the most unreported crashes per capita on average had double the poverty rate and 2.6 times the carless household rate as the rest of Illinois. Struck pedestrians diagnosed at the hospital with an intoxicating substance went unreported to police nearly 70% of the time. Generally, more severe head and thorax injuries were more likely to be reported. Struck pedestrians outside of Cook County averaged a 60% discordance rate, those within Cook County averaged a discordance rate of about 50%. Struck pedestrian cases reported to police averaged emergency department charges of about $2,500 more than unreported cases. Conclusions Underlying and contributing factors influential of a struck pedestrian's decision of whether to report to police is complex and layered by social constructs mixed with difficult economic decisions, often further complicated by the fog of impairment. Recommendations are made for community outreach to stress the importance of reporting incidents to police, along with adjusting case count numbers in police records using hospital data and discordance rates.

Does area type matter for pedestrian distribution? Testing movement economy theory on gated and non-gated housing estates in Wuhan, China

This study investigates how the built environment influences pedestrian distribution in housing estates and whether its influence differs between gated and non-gated housing types. This study is built upon the theoretical framework of the movement economy, initially proposed by scholars from the Space Syntax Laboratory and recently extended by others. The extended movement economy framework conceptualises the interrelationship between street configuration, functional uses, physical structures, and pedestrian movement. To evaluate the hypothesised associations within this theoretical framework, we constructed structural equation modelling using pedestrian movement data of 606 locations from six pairs of gated and non-gated housing estates in Wuhan, China. We assessed the direct, indirect, and total effects of street configuration, functional uses, and physical structures on pedestrian movement. We then conducted a multigroup analysis to determine whether statistically significant differences exist between gated and non-gated housing areas regarding how the three spatial factors affect pedestrian movement.The findings indicated that the structural model could explain over 60 % of variances on pedestrian movement data, regardless of housing types. Although pedestrian movement demonstrated statistically significant correlations with street configuration, functional use, and physical structure, the street configuration was the most powerful and reliable predictor of all. This paper also evidenced that functional use and physical structure were two effective mediators between street configuration and pedestrian movement, albeit with small mediating effect sizes. More importantly, the results also uncovered several statistically significant differences in the builtenvironmental influences between gated and non-gated models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that (i) verifies the direct, indirect, and total effects of the built environment on pedestrian movement in Chinese housing estates; and (ii) confirms statistically significant differences between gated and non-gated housing types in their built-environmental impacts on pedestrian movement.

An extended model describing pedestrian evacuation considering pedestrian crowding and stampede behavior

In recent years, stampede accidents have occurred frequently, resulting in significant casualties and property losses. In this paper, an extended cellular automata model is designed to investigate the behavior of pedestrian stampedes. The concept of pedestrian crowding, support, and friction is introduced and viewed as an influencing factor of normal pedestrian falls Besides, the state of pedestrians after falling to the ground is analyzed. The fallen pedestrians may return to normal or be trampled to death. Through the numerical simulation, the stampede phenomenon in pedestrian evacuation in public places is explored, and the influences of pedestrian density, pedestrian distribution mode, exit setting, and obstacles at the exit on the evacuation results are discussed. The analysis demonstrates that the greater the pedestrian density, the more the pedestrians fall to the ground and die. Moreover, pedestrians are more likely to die after falling to the ground with the increase in pedestrian density. At the beginning of the evacuation, the risk of the pedestrian stampede in decentralized distribution is less than that in centralized distribution. The exit is located on the left or right of the center of the wall when the pedestrian density is small, making it less dangerous than the middle position. The safety is higher when the number of exits is large. Additionally, the existence of obstacles at the exit can reduce the risk of stampede accidents when the pedestrian density is small. Our research reveals the mechanism and influencing factors of the trampling process to a certain extent, playing a reference and guiding role for future research.

Analysis of Indoor Guided Pedestrian Evacuation Dynamics in Single- and Multiple-Exit Scenarios: Toward a Unified Scheme for Guide Assignment

Indoor pedestrian evacuation processes could be significantly affected by the presence of guides, that is, safety management staff; how to assign guides properly remains a challenging task. This question is deconstructed into single- and multiple-exit scenarios for analysis in this study. The mechanisms behind the evacuation dynamics are explored via a two-layer guided pedestrian evacuation model and the corresponding guide assignment strategies are proposed. The upper layer model deals with guide assignment, where random and uniform guide assignment schemes, and a newly proposed distribution-based guide assignment scheme, are embedded, while the lower layer model controls the movement of evacuees based on a cellular automata model. Results show that there are bifurcate mechanisms governing evacuation dynamics. Only in single-exit scenarios could an increased number of guides lead to a “sharp decrease–long steady tail” tendency in total evacuation time, whereas evacuation efficiency in multiple-exit scenarios is consistent with exit use equilibrium. The three different guide assignment schemes bring about highly case-specific performances depending on the initial pedestrian distribution and the number of exits. The distribution-based guide assignment scheme is preferable in most cases, especially in spaces with a highly biased pedestrian distribution and multiple exits.

Experimental study on the characteristics of multimerging pedestrians through macroscopic and microscopic analysis

Pedestrian merging behavior is one of the most frequently observed complex pedestrian behaviors and has a certain limited impact on evacuation efficiency in emergency situations. However, experimental research on the multiple merging behavior of pedestrians is very limited. To explore the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of multiple-merging under special-angle conditions, this paper studies the pedestrian behavior of the main channel and branches in multiple-merging behavior, and analyzes the microscopic and macroscopic characteristics of pedestrians in the case of multiple merging. The width of the main channel is fixed at 2.4[Formula: see text]m, the angle between the branches and the main channel is 30, and the change in the width of the merging branches is 0.8, 1.2 and 1.6[Formula: see text]m. A total of 171 volunteers participated in the experiment, and UWB equipment was used to extract pedestrian trajectories. Obvious lanes were formed during the experiment, and there were obvious ramps. The density of the double branches is significantly higher than that of the single branch, and the maximum saturation value can reach 3.75[Formula: see text]ped/m2. When the width of the branch becomes narrower, the branch entrance and the main channel block each other. When the width of the branch is narrow enough, the influence of the number of branches on the speed of the branch is reduced. When the number of branches increases, to make the distribution of pedestrians more even, the width of the branches also needs to be increased. We also analyzed the headway distance and found that almost all the volunteers in the experiment were under the free system. The results are helpful for correction of the multimerging simulation model and design improvement of the daily multimerging scene.

Human-Vehicle Intersection Traffic Lights Timing Optimization Research

The purpose of this research is to find a traffic light timing optimization scheme. During the research, an intersection between Xi’an Mingguang road and the Fourth FengCheng road was chosen to analyze the crossing time distribution of pedestrians who were separated from west-to-the-right-turn vehicles during which the method of breaking off both ends of pedestrian green light signals was used. The VISSIM software was used for traffic simulation, aimed at improving traffic volume and right-turning vehicle average speed for less vehicle queuing delays, less human-vehicle conflicts, and better security for pedestrians without excessive interruption on their street crossing efficiency. The optimal scheme is obtained and the result shows that (1) the number of passing vehicles remains unchanged, with the queuing delay reduced by 5.78% and crosswalk passing speed increased by 19.01% compared with the original one. (2) As the scheme effect is positively correlated with the increase of right turn vehicle numbers, the scheme could be adopted for urban traffic management based on the local situation, which is not only in peak traffic hours but also in the flat peak time to ensure vehicle efficiency and pedestrian safety in the light of “vehicle yielding to pedestrians” regulation. (3) The scheme could also be adopted in cities with no “vehicle yielding to pedestrians” policy for both people-vehicle separation and pedestrian safety when crossing streets.