Pedestrian Attitudes Research Articles

A Community Profile of Walking and Cycling for Exercise or Transportation in a Rural County in the Southeastern United States.

People living in rural areas of the United States, especially in the southern region, are much less likely to walk or cycle for leisure time or transportation. The purpose of this study is to provide a more detailed community-level estimate of walking and cycling behaviors and attitudes among adults living in a rural county (Hardeman County, TN) participating in a High Obesity Program (HOP) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Telephone interviews and online surveys regarding walking and cycling behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions of the built environment were completed by 634 adults. Questions originated from the 2002 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior. Respondents were classified as walkers, cyclists, or both. Chi-square and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Of adults in this county, 67.2% were walkers and 16.2% cyclists. Both forms of active living tended to decrease with age, especially after 50 years. Walking was associated with younger ages, 2-person households, positive perceived health, and a feeling that walking was good for them. Cycling was only associated with age. Most people felt that their communities were safe places to walk or bike. Walking was most often done on roads or road shoulder. Social support and intrinsic motivators may also play a role in walking and bicycling in rural areas. Interventions that promote walking and cycling in rural areas should provide a means for social support, creating activity-friendly routes perceived to be safe, and enhanced destinations for places to be physically active.

Multi-Level Fusion Model for Person Re-Identification by Attribute Awareness

Existing person re-recognition (Re-ID) methods usually suffer from poor generalization capability and over-fitting problems caused by insufficient training samples. We find that high-level attributes, semantic information, and part-based local information alignment are useful for person Re-ID networks. In this study, we propose a person re-recognition network with part-based attribute-enhanced features. The model includes a multi-task learning module, local information alignment module, and global information learning module. The ResNet based on non-local and instance batch normalization (IBN) learns more discriminative feature representations. The multi-task module, local module, and global module are used in parallel for feature extraction. To better prevent over-fitting, the local information alignment module transforms pedestrian attitude alignment into local information alignment to assist in attribute recognition. Extensive experiments are carried out on the Market-1501 and DukeMTMC-reID datasets, whose results demonstrate that the effectiveness of the method is superior to most current algorithms.

Pedestrian Attitude Estimation and Recognition Algorithm Based on RF Data

Pedestrian detection plays a vital role in the estimation of human posture, especially the pedestrian detector, which provides the position information of human body in the image. This paper proposes a pedestrian gesture recognition algorithm using radio frequency data based on RFID technology. Its goal is to serve as a starting point for research in the field of human gesture recognition. The position of pedestrians in the input picture can be adaptively adjusted by learning the transformation parameters of samples during network training, and the local features of each block can be trained by multiple cross entropy functions at the network’s end, allowing the sample local area to be fully utilized as the network’s training. More accurate DFL and attitude feature recognition can be achieved using the measured received signal strength information and channel state information. The pedestrian gesture recognition algorithm based on RF data proposed in this paper improves pedestrian recognition accuracy, especially in noisy environments, such as fuzzy or occlusion, according to experimental results.

An extended dynamic model for pedestrian traffic considering individual preference

Complexity, dynamics and mutability are basic characteristics of pedestrian evacuation. However, most models for pedestrian traffic still lack an explanatory mechanism of the individual choice process. This study concerns a cell transmission model (CTM) for pedestrian traffic. But we focus on a new issue, namely, how to illustrate the decision-making process of each individual pedestrian. The decision field theory (DFT), a cognitive model to capture the deliberation process in decision making, is introduced to the cell transmission model and an extended dynamic pedestrian flow assignment model based on DFT and CTM is proposed. Pedestrian attitudes towards distance and crowdedness are considered and the individual preferences of pedestrians in the dynamic decision-making for the evacuation process are explored. Numerical studies show that the initial pedestrian distributions can have an effect on the evacuation process and different individual preferences of pedestrians will lead to different pedestrian choices. Even in the same cell, pedestrians’ route and exit choices may be different. Furthermore, some interesting phenomena can be observed, which illustrate that the preference reversals can be depicted in our model.

Pedestrian–Vehicle Interaction at Unsignalized Crosswalks: A Systematic Review

A systematic review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), to generate a document that supports the development of future research, compiling the various studies focused on the analysis of the pedestrian-vehicle interaction at unsignalized crosswalks. Firstly, 381 studies were identified by applying the search protocol in the database sources; however, only nine studies were included in this review because most of the studies are not focused on this type of crosswalks or have not considered the micro-simulation perspective. For each study, an analysis of the used methodology for data collection was carried out, in addition to what type of model it was applied, including the variables that represent the PVI (Pedestrian-Vehicle Interaction). The outcomes obtained by this systematic review show that although the video camera observation technique is the most used, it is possible to complement them with other tools to add specific field information. Additionally, variables such as the adjacent yields, speed variables vehicles, pedestrian attitude, and the number of pedestrians waiting at the crossing were those most used in the cellular automata model or micro-simulation, which are the commonly developed models to simulate this interaction.

An evidence based method to calculate pedestrian crossing speeds in vehicle collisions (PCSC)

Pedestrian accident reconstruction is necessary to establish cause of death, i.e. establishing vehicle collision speed as well as circumstances leading to the pedestrian being impacted and determining culpability of those involved for subsequent court enquiry. Understanding the complexity of the pedestrian attitude during an accident investigation is necessary to ascertain the causes leading to the tragedy. A generic new method, named Pedestrian Crossing Speed Calculator (PCSC), based on vector algebra, is proposed to compute the pedestrian crossing speed at the moment of impact. PCSC uses vehicle damage and pedestrian anthropometric dimensions to establish a combination of head projection angles against the windscreen; this angle is then compared against the combined velocities angle created from the vehicle and the pedestrian crossing speed at the time of impact. This method has been verified using one accident fatality case in which the exact vehicle and pedestrian crossing speeds were known from Police forensic video analysis. PCSC was then applied on two other accident scenarios and correctly corroborated with the witness statements regarding the pedestrians crossing behaviours. The implications of PCSC could be significant once fully validated against further future accident data, as this method is reversible, allowing the computation of vehicle impact velocity from pedestrian crossing speed as well as verifying witness accounts.

Intrapersonal and Environmental Correlates of Bicycling in U.S. Adults

Bicycling is a health-promoting physical activity, but little is known about the factors that influence this behavior in the U.S. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to identify multilevel ecologic correlates of bicycling behaviors in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. This analysis, conducted in 2016-2017, utilized data from the 2012 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behaviors (n=7,509; N=246,155,593). Weighted logistic regression models were utilized to examine the association between intrapersonal, perceived environment, and objective environment variables and total, recreation, and transportation bicycling. Significant differences were identified when bicyclists were compared with non-bicyclists. Respondents whose most recent ride was for recreation had significantly higher odds of being male, younger, white, and college educated, and significantly lower odds of being retired or a homemaker. Respondents who reported that their most recent ride was for transportation had significantly higher odds of being male, younger, and a student, and had significantly lower odds of being a high school graduate. Transportation riders also had significantly higher odds of perceived presence of a bike lane or path within one-quarter mile of their residence, and living in a more rural area. In the U.S., recreation bicycling is a choice-based behavior, whereas transportation bicycling may be more influenced by the perceived and objective built environment. Interventions should consider how to make recreation and transportation bicycling more accessible and affordable to all individuals.

How young pedestrians do explain their risky road crossing behaviors? A qualitative study in Iran.

Background: Although pedestrian-vehicle accidents are often the results of risky behaviors during road crossings, there is limited evidence concerning the risky road crossing behaviors of pedestrians. This study was aimed at eliciting and exploring the reasons that can help explain why young pedestrians take risky road crossing behaviors. Methods: A qualitative content analysis approach was conducted on purposefully selected young individuals who had the experience of vehicle-collision accident. Data collected by in depth, semi-structured interviews until data saturation and concurrently analyzed, assisted by MAXQDA 10. Results: Three main categories emerged as social reasons for risky road crossing behaviors of the young pedestrians including ‘conformity with the masses/crowds’, ‘lack of social cohesion and sense of belonging in social relations’ and ‘bypassing the law/ law evasion’. Conclusion: The risky road crossing behaviors of young pedestrians are found influenced by the pedestrian attitudes towards the political, social, cultural and economic condition of the society.Moreover, popular culture and collective behaviors in crossing the roads influenced the risky behaviors. Hence, personal, cultural and social interventions could be effective in promoting the young pedestrians’ behavior.

Correlates of Helmet Use Among Recreation and Transportation Bicyclists.

Helmet use prevents injury and mortality if a bicyclist is in a collision while riding. This cross-sectional study sought to identify domain-specific (recreation versus transportation) correlates of helmet use among U.S. adult bicyclists, using nationally representative data from 2012. This analysis, conducted in 2015-2016, utilized data from the 2012 National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behaviors, administered for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Bivariate logistic regressions identified sociodemographic, behavioral, and environmental correlates of helmet use among U.S. adult bicyclists. Backwards elimination procedures selected final multivariate models for bicyclists' helmet use in both domains. Among recreation cyclists, helmet use was significantly associated with income ($30,000-$75,000, OR=1.79, 95% CI=1.04, 3.10; ≥$75,000, OR=2.34, 95% CI=1.38, 3.97), safety training (OR=2.94, 95% CI=1.46, 5.93), not riding at dark (OR=1.92, 95% CI=1.24, 2.98), feeling threatened while riding (OR=2.24, 95% CI=1.12, 4.45), and using bike lanes/paths (OR=2.04, 95% CI=1.42, 2.93). Helmet use among transportation riders was significantly associated with education (less than high school, OR=2.45, 95% CI=1.13, 5.32; post-high school, OR=3.55, 95% CI=1.96, 6.42), income ($30,000-$75,000, OR=2.11, 95% CI=1.17, 3.8; ≥$75,000, OR=2.33, 95% CI=1.26, 4.27), unemployment (OR=0.29, 95% CI=0.11, 0.76), not using electronics while riding (OR=2.3, 95% CI=1.41, 3.75), safety training (OR=3.19, 95% CI=1.44, 7.07), and injury while riding within the past 2 years (OR=2.81, 95% CI=1.14, 6.94). Correlates of helmet use among bicyclists are domain specific. Although confirmatory longitudinal studies are needed, findings suggest that interventions to increase bicyclists' helmet use consider riding domain.

Sharing urban sidewalks with bicyclists? An exploratory analysis of pedestrian perceptions and attitudes

Bicycling and walking are gaining popularity for both commuting and recreation. However, when faced with limited right-of-way width, many transportation agencies find it impractical to designate separate space for bicyclists in urban roadway corridors, instead devoting their limited funds to other projects. As a result, some bicyclists – feeling threatened by motor vehicles – use sidewalks for at least part of their trip. Laws governing bicyclist use of sidewalks are not consistently enforced in various cities and countries. Pedestrian-bicycle shared space has rarely been studied from a pedestrian's perspective in an urban context. Therefore, gaining a better understanding of the factors that influence pedestrian attitudes toward sharing a sidewalk with bicyclists can be useful in evaluating shared space strategies and guiding investments in bicycle facilities. Using the responses of 114 persons to 15 carefully constructed 60-s video clips of urban sidewalks in four Chinese cities, this study characterizes pedestrian attitudes regarding sharing sidewalks with bicycles under different sidewalk configurations. By estimating a random parameters ordered probability model (to account for unobserved heterogeneity across respondents), we found pedestrians who wanted a “safe distance” greater than 1.5meters were more likely to possess a less tolerant attitude. Attitudes of pedestrians toward bicyclists on sidewalks also depend on the presence or absence of dedicated bicycle facilities. The effects of other significant factors are also quantified in this paper. Implications for policy makers in evaluating shared-space strategy can be drawn from this empirical study.

Individualism, collectivism and pedestrian safety: A comparative study of young adults from Iran and Pakistan

Pedestrian fatalities contribute substantially to the total road traffic fatality burden in developing countries. There are few comparative studies which have examined differences in attitudes and risk behaviour amongst pedestrians in such countries. Empirical studies regarding the role of cultural factors as precursors of such attitudes and behaviour are also scant. The aim of this study was to examine differences in attitudes towards pedestrian safety, risky pedestrian behaviour and cultural dimensions in samples of young adults (18–25years) from Iran and Pakistan. We also tested a theoretical model where the cultural dimensions predicted risky pedestrian behaviour through attitudes towards pedestrian safety in the two samples. The results were based on a survey conducted amongst young adults from Iran (n=131) and Pakistan (n=161). The findings revealed that Iranians reported more transgression risk behaviour than the Pakistanis, whereas the latter reported substantially more attention violations and aggressive behaviour. Multi-group structural equation modelling showed that an unconstrained model was better fitted to the data than a constrained model. Vertical individualism was related to unsafe attitudes towards pedestrian safety in both countries, but more strongly in the Pakistani sample. Vertical collectivism was associated with safe pedestrian attitudes only in Iran. Male gender predicted more risk taking pedestrian behaviour in both countries, and safe attitudes predicted less risk taking pedestrian behaviour in both samples. Interventions aimed at reducing risky pedestrian behaviour amongst young adults in Pakistan and Iran may benefit by focusing on cultural factors in addition to enforcing traffic regulations.

Road, Traffic, and Human Factors of Pedestrian Crossing Behavior: Integrated Choice and Latent Variables Models

This study analyzed road, traffic, and human factors of pedestrian crossing behavior through the development of integrated choice and latent variables models. The analysis used recent research as a starting point, in which a two-stage approach was successfully tested, including a separate estimation of human factors and choice models. Data from a dedicated field survey were used: pedestrian field observations of road crossing behavior in different road and traffic scenarios were combined with a questionnaire on pedestrian attitudes, perceptions, motivations, and declared behaviors. The integrated choice and latent variables models were developed for four road types: major urban arterials, main roads, secondary roads, and residential roads. Results suggest that the effect of traffic conditions on pedestrian crossing choices was more important on main and secondary urban roads, whereas on major urban arterials and on residential roads it was nonsignificant. In regard to the effects of human factors, a risk latent variable was found to enhance the explanatory power of most of the models. This variable was estimated on the basis of different indicators in each case, reflecting a clear risk-taking tendency on major and main roads and an optimization tendency on minor roads. Overall, it is indicated that the integration of human factors in pedestrian crossing models provides meaningful and insightful results, and they may be advantageous compared with the two-stage approach.

무단횡단을 하는 보행자의 안전을 위한 연구: TPB를 중심으로

도로 상에서 차량은 강자이고 보행자들은 약자의 처지이다. 본 논문은 보행자의 안전에 기여하고자 하는 목적을 가진다. 먼저, 본 논문은 인구 모수들과 TPB(계획된 행동의 이론)의 변수들(도로에서 보행자의 길 건너는 행동에 있어서의 태도, 개인적 가치, 인지된 행동 통제, 등), 길을 건너고자 하는 의도, 건너는 동안의 인지된 위험, 그리고 과거 교통사고의 경험 사이의 연관성을, 대학생 샘플을 대상으로, 연구하였다. TPB 변수들을 고려한 보행자 연구는 한국에서 통상 수행되지 않았었다. 더 나아가 본 연구는, 도로를 건너는 보행자의 위험한 행동에 있어서, 인간의 인지 실패/오류, 충동성, 시간관, 그리고 확률적/수학-논리적 판단 능력이, 차지하는 비중을 분석하고자 하였다. 연구 결과는, 그 비중이 아주 크지는 않지만, 존재함을 발견하였고, 인간 생명은 매우 소중하므로, 보행자의 사고에서 인간의 그러한 심리적 요인들을 추가적으로 고려한다면, 보행자의 사고를 예방하고 그 불행을 줄이는 데에, 더 나아가 사고와 관련된 경제적 손실과 보험 지출을 줄이는 데에, 기여할 것이라고 사료된다. On roads vehicles are the bossy, while pedestrians are the frangible. The current paper has a purpose for contributing to pedestrian's safety. First, it studies the association between demographic parameters and TPB(Theory of Planned Behavior)'s variables(pedestrian's attitude toward crossing behavior in roads, personal norm, etc.) and his/her crossing intention, perceived risk while crossing, and the experience of past traffic accidents. Its sample comes from a specific population(college students). Further, the present study endeavors to explain the portion of human cognitive failure/error, impulsiveness, time perspective, and probabilistic/math-logical judgment ability in pedestrian's riky crossings on roads. Research results found that TPB variables and such a few human characteristics have some significant association with the risky crossing intention on the road. Considering the human psychological portion in pedestrian accidents would help us prevent the accidents and reduce unhappiness of the accidents and, further, economic loss and insurance expenditure related with the accidents.

Money Walks | The Economic Role of the Street in the City of London 1947–1993

Prior to the deregulation of the Thatcher years, the City of London (London’s financial district) was largely self-regulated, operating via what Michael Moran refers to as ‘an explicit ideology of cooperative regulation’, institutionalized within a system of market-specific, club-like bodies, such as the Stock Exchange and Lloyds insurance market. Supervised and operated via its members, the components of each institution were tied together through a mode of exchange that prized face-to-face contact, reputation and trust, epitomised by the Stock Exchange motto Dictum Meum Pactum (‘My word is my bond’). The latter was made concrete via messenger-operated payment and clearing systems, organised around the hours of trade, provoking the need for proximity between institutions and specific architectural arrangements and resulting in an urban agglomeration of banks and other institutions in the immediate vicinity of the Bank of England. The advent of digital technology entailed a decline in the economic significance of pedestrian activity in the City. The shift from manual, paper operations to onscreen transactions made redundant the kinetic network of brokers and messengers that once formed the circulatory system for banking and finance. This paper considers the way in which such shifts ultimately reconfigured the nature of the street as public space and argues that, as fundamental parts of the financial transaction were removed from the City’s thoroughfares, the street would no longer be an extension of the workplace, but a space of leisure. Exploring concepts such as ‘transaction’, ‘regulation’ and ‘exchange’ as social processes with material consequences, this paper attempts to chart the historical link between the street and economic activity, through analysis of the City’s myriad pedestrian ways and changing attitudes to planning public space in the fifty years following the Second World War.

How Do Attitudes, Personality Traits, and Driver Behaviors Relate to Pedestrian Behaviors?: A Turkish Case

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the role of pedestrian attitudes and personality traits (social conformity and empathy) on pedestrian behaviors in a Turkish sample. An equally important aim of the study was to examine the association between pedestrian and driver behaviors.Method: The sample included 289 road users including pedestrians and drivers (169 females and 120 males). The participants’ age ranged from 15 to 78 years (M = 32.00, SD = 13.89). Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire.Results: A regression analysis showed that increased age, high level of satisfaction with traffic infrastructure and environment, safer attitudes toward pedestrian violations, and empathy were negatively related to risky pedestrian behaviors, whereas social conformity was positively related. Attitudes were the strongest predictor of pedestrian behaviors. In addition, bivariate correlation analysis showed that all dimensions of pedestrian and driver behaviors were positively correlated with each other, which indicates that a tendency to take risks remains the same regardless of the road user role (i.e., driver vs. pedestrian).Conclusions: Attitudes are strong predictors of pedestrian behaviors. A tendency to take risks as a pedestrian and as a driver is correlated. Results are discussed for their implications to traffic safety campaigns targeting increased pedestrian safety.

Relationships among Lifestyle Attributes and Attitudes toward Pedestrian Facilities

This study investigates the influence of lifestyle of individuals on their walking behavior and their expectations from pedestrian infrastructure. This project is part of a series of studies looking into region specific characteristics of pedestrian behavior. Part of the challenge during this project has been to identify attributes that relate to lifestyle of individuals and collection of relevant data. Large part of the data collection has been carried out over five urban areas in Japan and a supplementary survey has been carried out in Sydney, Australia. The survey has focused on eight lifestyle indicators and ten attitudinal questions related to walking and experience with pedestrian facilities. Statistical analysis and correspondence analysis technique applied in this project have revealed that lifestyle attributes and regional characteristics both have to be considered to obtain an accurate picture of pedestrian attitudes. Some implications of relevance to the planning community have been mentioned.

Patterns of pedestrian attitudes, perceptions and behaviour in Europe

This study aims to identify patterns of pedestrian attitudes, perceptions and behaviour in Europe, on the basis of the results of the SARTRE 4 (Social Attitudes to Road Traffic Risk in Europe) pan-European survey carried out in late 2010 and early 2011 (questionnaire-based personal interviews in 19 European countries involving 4290 pedestrians). The various components of pedestrian attitudes and behaviour (e.g. acceptance of measures and penalties, risk-taking behaviour, perceived level of service, etc.) were determined by means of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on 33 variables contained in the survey. Moreover, groups of pedestrians with similar attitudinal and behavioural characteristics were identified by means of a Two Step Cluster Analysis. The results revealed eight components, from which six are associated with pedestrian attitudes and two with pedestrian behaviour and were further analysed for different countries and different age and gender groups. Furthermore, the cluster analysis revealed three types of pedestrians. The first type concerns pedestrians with ‘positive behaviour and positive attitudes’. The second type concerns pedestrians with ‘negative behaviour and negative attitudes’, a group into which male and young pedestrians are over-represented. The third type concerns neutral pedestrians with ‘positive behaviour but mixed attitudes’, a group that presents the largest dispersion between countries and whose proportion defines the dominant type of pedestrian in each country. However, the proportion of the different types of pedestrians in each country does not appear to be associated with pedestrian fatality rates.

Relationship between Level of Service of Mass Transit and Pedestrian Attitudes

Relationship between Level of Service of Mass Transit and Pedestrian Attitudes

Pedestrian Flow Modeling by Adaptive Control

Assessment tools for pedestrian walking speeds, comfort, and travel times are important for the planning and geometric design of infrastructural facilities under regular and safety-critical circumstances (evacuations). This contribution focuses on pedestrian walking behavior theory and modeling. It is assumed that pedestrians are adaptive controllers who minimize the subjective predicted cost of walking, given changing walking objectives and pedestrian attitudes. The theory asserts that pedestrians predict the behavior of other pedestrians on the basis of their observations and the assumed walking strategies of nearby pedestrians. The approach yields closed-form mathematical expressions predicting the acceleration and directional change of a pedestrian. It was found that the model was able to predict the behavior of pedestrians accurately (lane formation, walking positions, faster-is-slower effect, etc.), as shown by several application examples.

Trends and characteristics of road traffic accidents in Nigeria.

THE TRENDS AND characteristics of road traffic accidents in Nigeria were evaluated using data from the police records. The study showed that there has been increasing trends in the case fatality rates, injury and th rates per 100,000 population. There have also been easing trends in the severity of the accidents. During the last ten years (1974-1983) the number of accidents increased by 10.4%, injured cases increased by 43%, cases of deaths increased by 110.6%, total casualties increased by 57.1% and human population increased by 27.2%. The mortality pattern showed that for every five fatal accident victims one subsequent death occurred outside the accident scene. The majority of the accident victims in Nigeria are young adults of the age group 22 to 30 years and about 75% of the accident victims are males. Unsafe acts (reckless and dangerous driving, driving without licence, excess speed, alcoholism, faulty pedestrian attitude, etc.) constitute the major causes of RTAs in Nigeria. Other contributory factors include unsafe driving conditions such as road and vehicle defects. The observations from the present study indicate the need for a regular evaluation of accident trends in relation to a critical evaluation and innovation of accident counter measures in Nigeria.