Pedestrian Behavioral Characteristics Research Articles

Open space dynamics during coronavirus disease-2019

Although numerous studies have been carried out to examine the general trend of urban mobility during coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), there is not enough research on changes in pedestrian behavioural characteristics and crowd dynamics in public spaces. Understanding and monitoring such changes are critical for the better management and design of public open space in case of future outbreaks of infectious diseases. To fill this gap, pedestrian movements are tracked and analysed with deep learning-based video analytics based on anonymised video footage along a major promenade in Hong Kong before and during COVID-19. Specifically, comparisons were made on pedestrian-flow characteristics, pedestrian activities and social distancing. Then, this study examines the dynamics of pedestrian crowding under different scenarios, using agent-based simulation. Model results suggest that the public space was characterised by fewer visitors, a higher average walking speed, a higher percentage of people exercising and a lower percentage of people carrying out stationary activities during COVID-19. In addition, a higher level of voluntary social distancing was observed. Several hot spots for pedestrian crowding were also identified. Learning from the above, it is suggested that multifunctional public space should be designed; and data-driven visitor management systems should be established to prepare for different scenarios in future cities.

Estimating of Critical Gaps at Uncontrolled Intersections under Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions

Pedestrian crossing behavior can be studied by estimating critical gap, which is determined by analyzing accepted and rejected gaps by pedestrians. This can provide insight into safety levels at pedestrian facilities. The aim of this study is to determine critical gaps using various methods such as the Logit method, Raff's method, and Wu’s Method. These methods are then compared to identify the most appropriate one. Three locations in Malaysia were selected for data collection based on their land use, number of lanes, and carriageway width. Video cameras were used to capture mixed traffic flow and pedestrian crossing movements simultaneously at the selected sections. The results indicate that the critical gap values obtained from the three methods are highly comparable. Specifically, the Logit Method yielded a critical gap value of 8.4s, while Raff's Method and Wu's Method produced critical gap values of 7.7s and 7.12s, respectively. The study concludes that the Logit method is the most suitable for estimating critical gaps as it takes into account both pedestrian behavior and vehicular characteristics concurrently. The findings of this study have the potential to contribute to the review of design parameters for pedestrian crossing facilities, leading to the improvement of existing facilities and the enhancement of pedestrian safety.

A review on passenger emergency evacuation from multimodal transportation hubs

Multimodal transportation hubs serve as transfer points with the function of collecting, transferring, and distributing passengers and play a significant role in the entire multimodal transportation network. In an emergency, the development of an effective and efficient emergency evacuation strategy to evacuate passengers from multimodal transportation hubs is very important. This paper aims to conduct a comprehensive review on passenger emergency evacuations from multimodal transportation hubs, summarize the achievements, identify gaps in existing literature, thus to lay a solid foundation for future studies. This paper first reviewed studies on evacuee behavior characteristics in emergency evacuations, including pedestrian characteristics, pedestrian behavior characteristics, and pedestrian flow characteristics. Then evacuation models, including pedestrian evacuation models and multimodal transportation evacuation models, were investigated. In addition, a retrospective analysis was carried out for evacuation simulation. It is found that while many studies have been conducted on passenger emergency evacuations from multimodal transportation hubs, most of them focus more on evacuating pedestrians from inside to outside of hub buildings; the studies on evacuation at multimodal transfer points are limited. It is also found that most existing studies tried to establish a general model to handle all types of emergency evacuations; in fact, a model would be more efficient if it is just established for a specific emergency and for a specific type of hubs. Also, existing data collection methods may collect biased data; new data collection methods need to be explored to increase the accuracy of data collection. Future study directions include the evacuation at multimodal transfer points, interactive effects between individual pedestrian behavior and pedestrian group behavior, more specific types of emergency evacuations, more accurate data collection methods, and tradeoffs between cost and benefit in emergency evacuations. • Reviewed studies on passenger emergency evacuation from multimodal transportation hubs. • Summarized findings on evacuee behavior, models, and simulations of emergency evacuation studies and analyzed the gaps. • Proposed further studies directions for passenger emergency evacuation from multimodal transportation hubs.

Analysis of Behavior Characteristics for Pedestrian Twice-Crossing at Signalized Intersections Based on an Improved Social Force Model

At urban signalized intersections, pedestrian twice-crossing is usually viewed as a complex human behavior, since there are many factors influencing it. Mostly, pedestrians engage in a complicated cognitive process of perception, attention and decision-making. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the major factors affecting this behavior, and develop an effective pedestrian dynamic model, in order to increase the safety and efficiency of crossing streets. This study proposes a force-based model of pedestrian dynamics by improving the classic social force model, in order to determine the influencing factors and quantify the forces acting on pedestrians crossing in two stages at signalized intersections. Through analyzing the characteristics of pedestrian twice-crossing behavior, the social force model was enhanced by providing a new component of the green signal countdown. The improved model includes four parts of the self-driving force in the ideal state, the repulsive and attractive forces generated by surrounding pedestrians, the resistance of the crosswalk boundary line, and the force produced by the green signal countdown. Each part was considered with qualitative analysis and quantitative calculation. The results show that the proposed model can achieve high accuracy in measuring the forces acting on pedestrian twice-crossing. The findings of this study have great implications for designing pedestrian facilities and optimizing pedestrian signal timings, helping thus to increase the mobility and safety of pedestrian twice-crossing.

Safety evaluation of pedestrian-vehicle interaction at signalized intersections in Changsha, China

The purpose of this study is to investigate the unsafe conditions of pedestrian crossings at signalized intersections under the mixed traffic environment in Changsha, China. For this purpose, based really pedestrian-related crash data of Changsha city and visualized crash geographic information, six typical urban signalized intersections were selected. The peak and off-peak surveillance videos of six signalized intersections were collected via field surveys, 1,070 conflicts were extracted through using professional trajectory tracking software Traker to track pedestrian and vehicle trajectories. PSMT (Pedestrian Safety Margin Time) was used as an indicator to identify the severity of conflicts, and manually recorded the characteristics of pedestrian crossing behavior, vehicles and roads during the conflict. An Ordered Probit model was established to analyze the risk factors that led to different severities of the conflict between pedestrians and vehicles. The model outcome indicates a significant relationship between the severity level and characteristics of pedestrian behavior, vehicles and conflict. Moreover, it was identified that, in addition to the above characteristics, roadway characteristics significantly influenced likelihood of severe pedestrian-vehicle conflict. Finally, these factors are discussed, and suggestions for improving the pedestrian traffic environment are proposed from different perspectives.

Using Wi-Fi Signals from Mobile Devices to Determine Characteristics of Pedestrian Behavior in Public Spaces

This paper presents an investigation into automated data collection, applied to pedestrians in public spaces. Three case studies conducted in Brno, Czech Republic, a typical, medium-sized city in Central Europe, were used to determine the accuracy of the proposed method. Data were recorded in two ways: (i) automated data collection, using a data logger constructed on the principle of a minicomputer to measure the intensity of Wi-Fi signals from mobile devices; and (ii) in situ observation. Data from in situ observation provided a basis for the comparison and verification of corresponding values from the automated data collection. The research framework of the paper comprises the determination of exact values for optimum characterization of pedestrian behavior in a given locality, taking into consideration conventions from previously published works: (i) the number of pedestrians ( N); (ii) speed ( u); (iii) flow ( q); and (iv) density ( k). The results of this study confirm that as the density of the street network increases, the accuracy of the data collected by the digital method decreases significantly. These findings indicate that the method is more suitable for projects focused on identifying major trends or shifts in pedestrian preferences when navigating city centers than for projects that require exact counts in specific locations at a given time.

Role of number of traffic lanes on pedestrian gap acceptance and risk taking behaviour at uncontrolled crosswalk locations

IntroductionPedestrian gap acceptance has been studied by many researchers for evaluating pedestrian facilities. However, these studies could not relate the gap acceptance at uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks have varied roadway features with pedestrian behaviour under mixed traffic conditions. In this context, the goal of the proposed study is to understand the probability of pedestrian gap acceptance while crossing uncontrolled mid-blocks and pedestrian risk taking behaviour considering the effect of pedestrian behaviour and different roadway characteristics. MethodVideo surveys were conducted at selected uncontrolled crosswalk locations with varied roadway characteristics which includes number of lanes, median etc. in Mumbai city, India. The pedestrian individual and behavioural characteristics as well as roadway, traffic and vehicle characteristics were observed and noted from the processed videos. The binary logit models were developed with extracted data at each selected location by using NLOGIT 4 software package, considering pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour (accept or reject) as the response variable and set of remaining data as explanatory variables. Further, the generic model was developed with combined data by cross validation method. ResultsThe results show that the important explanatory variables affecting the pedestrian gap acceptance behaviour are vehicular gap size, frequency of attempt, pedestrian rolling behaviour and type of vehicle, which play a major role in pedestrian gap acceptance and risk taking behaviour while crossing the road. It is also identified that the pedestrian risk taking behaviour increases with increase in number of lanes by usage of pedestrian behavioural aspects. ConclusionsThe study concluded that pedestrian behavioural characteristics needs to be controlled to reduce the pedestrian risky behaviour during road crossing at uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks. Study findings concluded that the increase in number of traffic lanes increases the risk of pedestrian road crossing. The model results from the study may be useful for practitioner, planners and policymakers to formulate suitable traffic management guidelines to control pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at different uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks.

Relationship Between Mobility and Pedestrian Traffic Safety in India

Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users. In India and other developing countries, pedestrian fatalities constitute a significant proportion of traffic-related fatalities. As these countries’ economies grow and their populations become more mobile, there may be repercussions for pedestrians. While improved mobility is generally considered a positive outcome of economic growth, its impact on pedestrian traffic safety has not been studied in detail, especially at a region-wide level. Since pedestrian behavior and vehicle ownership characteristics in low-and middle-income countries are substantially different than in high-income countries, it is necessary to explore the relationship between mobility and pedestrian traffic safety in the context of a middle-income country. In this study, India serves as a case study to explore such a relationship. A time-series regression methodology and mobility indices were used to quantify regional mobility over time. The results suggest that improvements in mobility are detrimental to pedestrian traffic safety in India. This study should emphasize to decision-makers the importance of investing in safety features for pedestrians, whose needs have been neglected for decades, often in favor of motorized transport.

Pedestrian and bicyclist behavior at Highway-Rail grade crossings: An observational study of factors associated with violations, distraction, and crossing speeds during train crossing events

Pedestrian-train collisions at highway-railroad grade crossings (HRGCs), though relatively rare events, often result in severe injuries or fatalities. In the ten year period from 2008-2017, there were 1,470 pedestrian-train collisions reported in the United States resulting in 908 fatalities and 492 injuries according to the Federal Railroad Administration. Furthermore, pedestrians in over 27% of these crashes were coded as disregarding gates at HRGCs, indicating unsafe behavior at these crossings may lead to crashes. In order to examine this behavior (for both pedestrians and bicyclists) and add to the body of knowledge for this topic, this observational study utilized pedestrian and bicyclist behavior data extracted from videos of HRGCs. Several pedestrian and bicyclist behavior characteristics were extracted including the prevalence of pedestrian and bicyclist violation (e.g., disregarding active devices), pedestrian and bicyclist distraction, and pedestrian and bicyclist crossing speeds. Using these data, along with rail-grade crossing features, train crossing parameters, and demographic data, statistical analyses were performed to examine factors significantly associated with pedestrian and bicyclist violations, distraction, and crossing speeds at HRGCs. Ultimately, the results of this study provide important information which may be useful in planning strategies to mitigate the impacts of unsafe pedestrian or bicyclist behavior at HRGCs.

Examining Pedestrian Critical Gap Analysis at Un-Signalized Midblock Crosswalk Sections in India

One way of studying pedestrian-crossing behavior is to estimate critical gap, using accepted/rejected gaps by the pedestrians, which may be indicative of safety levels at pedestrian facilities. This study aims to determine critical gaps using different methods like Raff’s method, Maximum Likelihood Method (MLM), Root Mean Square (RMS) Method, Probability Equilibrium Method (PEM), and Logit method. These methods are then compared to single out the most appropriate one. Five locations in the western part of India are studied, for data collection and selected based on the type of land-use, number of lanes, and carriage-way width. Video cameras were used to capture the mixed traffic flow as well as pedestrian crossing movement at selected sections simultaneously. The study results also conclude that logit method is the most appropriate one for estimating critical gap, as it considers the effect of pedestrian-behavior as well as vehicular characteristics concurrently. There would be a significant difference in estimated critical gap values with and without considering pedestrian behavioral characteristics. The results will help in taking a relook at design parameters for better pedestrian-crossing facilities, thereby improving the existing facilities and enhancing pedestrian safety.

Choice crossing behaviour model for Safety Margin of pedestrian at mid-blocks in India

Today’s fast growing life where the time is most important, pedestrian want to cross the road with comfort, convenience, safety without taking any risk for the minimal delay while crossing the road at mid-block crosswalk locations. The traditional way of measuring safety is in terms of the number of accidents, which occurred in that area based on accidental data. For, developing countries like India, the accuracy of accident details is highly questionable. Hence there is a need of a more effective safety evaluation technique which is proactive; to develop predictive models. A video graphic survey has been carried out in western and northern part of Indian cities to investigate pedestrian safety at mid-block crosswalks in an urban setting. A Binary Logistic Model (the probability of pedestrian-vehicle non-conflict) was developed to predict the probability of avoiding conflict with an approaching vehicle and other parameters on pedestrians’ decisions whether to cross the street at unprotected mid-block crosswalks. The result shows pedestrian behavioural characteristics significantly affect the PSM value as well as the probability of PVNC behaviour. Model shows that the decision to cross the street with or without safety depends on the type of approaching vehicle, vehicle speed, pedestrian speed, vehicular gap available, number of lanes, pedestrian rolling behaviour, land use, pedestrian age, platoon size, accepted gap/lag, type of gap. Further, the increase in the vehicle speed resulted in the increase PVNC. Pedestrian’s individual characteristics were found to be insignificant whereas gender was found to have an impact on SM. Rolling behaviour, presence of marking, number of lanes discourages pedestrians towards the decision to cross, regardless of the traffic gap. The outcome of elasticity analysis indicated that the traffic gap size, pedestrian speed, vehicle speed, concentration on gap are the parameters, which influences the pedestrian crossing decisions.

Evaluation of pedestrian crossing speed change patterns at unprotected mid-block crosswalks in India

Abstract The pedestrian crossing speed is one of the important factors in pedestrian crossing facility design. Research studies have shown that the pedestrian crossing speed is influenced by availability of green time at signalized crosswalks and pedestrian characteristics such as gender and age. However, the effects of vehicular time gap and additional pedestrian behavioural characteristics on pedestrian crossing speed patterns have not been examined at unprotected (un-signalized) mid-block crosswalks. The present study examines the pedestrian crossing speed change patterns considering the effect of vehicular time gap and pedestrian behavioural characteristics such as rolling behaviour, path change, etc., at selected unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions in India. Video graphic survey has been conducted at eight selected unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations in Mumbai City for two to three hours duration during normal weather conditions. The data was mined using AVS video editor software, and the extracted data includes pedestrian speed, pedestrian characteristics (gender and age), pedestrian behaviour (rolling behaviour, path change, etc.), vehicle characteristics (type and speed of the vehicle) and traffic characteristics. Pedestrian crossing speed change patterns (whether pedestrian is changing speed or not while crossing a road) was considered as a binary variable and a logistic regression model was developed with vehicular gaps and other pedestrian behavioural characteristics as independent variables. The results revealed that there is a reduction in pedestrian crossing speed change behaviour with an increase in vehicular gap size at unprotected mid-block crosswalks. The younger pedestrians have more probability of exhibiting crossing speed change patterns as compared to the elderly pedestrians at mid-block crosswalks. Further, it is identified that there is an increase in pedestrian crossing speed with increase in vehicle speed as well as heavy vehicle type. Pedestrian behavioural characteristics also have a significant influence on crossing speed. The study findings would provide useful information to designers and policy makers for design of pedestrian crossing facility under mixed traffic conditions.

Analysis of Red-Light Violation Behavior of Pedestrian Two-Stage Crossing at a Signalized Intersection

Studying pedestrians’ twice-crossing behavior is of great significance to enhance safety and efficiency for pedestrians at signalized intersections. However, researchers have paid little attention to analyze and model pedestrians’ red-light running behavior on a two-stage crossing at signalized intersections. This paper focuses on analyzing the characteristics of pedestrian red-light violation behavior at the two stages, including the time distribution of violation behavior, the consistency of violation behavior, and the violation behavior in group. A goal-oriented and time-driven red-light violation behavior model was proposed for pedestrian two-stage crossing. A video-recording method was used to collect field data, and the results show that pedestrians in the two directions present different red-light violation behaviors in time selection and violation count, as well as, pedestrians in the two stages of a direction present different red-light violation behaviors in time selection. The main reasons leading to the phenomena were analyzed, regarding from people’s cognitive psychology and visual perception. The results also show that the proposed model is effective in simulating pedestrian red-light violation behavior of twice crossing. This research provides a theoretical basis for optimizing signal timing, improving pedestrian safety and developing user-friendly transportation system.

Evaluation of pedestrian crossing behavior and safety at uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks with different numbers of lanes in China

This study aims to investigate pedestrian crossing behavior and safety at uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks with different numbers of vehicle lanes. For this purpose, twelve uncontrolled mid-block crosswalks in Wuhan, China were selected to collect data via field investigation. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze pedestrian crossing behavior, and the distribution of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts on different vehicle lanes was given. Three ordered probit (OP) models for pedestrian-vehicle conflicts analysis (PVCA) were established to measure the effects of various factors on pedestrian safety. Descriptive statistical results showed that crosswalks with different numbers of lanes have diverse impacts on pedestrian crossing behavior and safety. As the number of vehicle lanes increases, the proportion of pedestrians adopting the rolling gap crossing mode, crossing the street with others, and changing the speed or path increase accordingly. Moreover, the number of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at two-way six-lane crosswalks is 5.96 times higher than that of two-lane crosswalks, and 2.04 times higher than that of four-lane crosswalks. From the results of OP models, it was found that pedestrian behavioral characteristics such as rolling gap crossing mode, crossing with others significantly increased the possibility of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.

The characteristics of asymmetric pedestrian behavior: A preliminary study using passive smartphone location data

AbstractUnderstanding the movements of people is essential for the design and management of urban areas. This article presents a novel approach to understanding the asymmetry in route choice (i.e., the degree to which people choose different walking routes for their outbound and return journeys). The study utilizes a large volume of traces of individual routes, captured using a smartphone application. The routes are aggregated to a regular grid, and matrix statistics are developed to estimate the aggregate degree of route asymmetry for different types of route (shortest, longest, weekday, weekend, etc.). The results suggest that people change their route approximately 15% of the time. Although this varied little when observing trips made at the weekend or on a weekday, people taking journeys that deviated substantially from the shortest possible path were 6 percentage points less likely to change their routes than those taking journeys that were closest to the shortest path (14 and 20% asymmetry, respectively). The absolute length also impacted on the asymmetry of journeys, but not as substantially. This result is important because, for the first time, it reports a correlation between deviation from shortest route and aggregate pedestrian choice.

Modeling pedestrian crossing speed profiles considering speed change behavior for the safety assessment of signalized intersections

Pedestrian safety is one of the most challenging issues in road networks. Understanding how pedestrians maneuver across an intersection is the key to applying countermeasures against traffic crashes. It is known that the behaviors of pedestrians at signalized crosswalks are significantly different from those in ordinary walking spaces, and they are highly influenced by signal indication, potential conflicts with vehicles, and intersection geometries. One of the most important characteristics of pedestrian behavior at crosswalks is the possible sudden speed change while crossing. Such sudden behavioral change may not be expected by conflicting vehicles, which may lead to hazardous situations. This study aims to quantitatively model the sudden speed changes of pedestrians as they cross signalized crosswalks under uncongested conditions. Pedestrian speed profiles are collected from empirical data and speed change events are extracted assuming that the speed profiles are stepwise functions. The occurrence of speed change events is described by a discrete choice model as a function of the necessary walking speed to complete crossing before the red interval ends, current speed, and the presence of turning vehicles in the conflict area. The amount of speed change before and after the event is modeled using regression analysis. A Monte Carlo simulation is applied for the entire speed profile of the pedestrians. The results show that the model can represent the pedestrian travel time distribution more accurately than the constant speed model.

Modeling pedestrian gap crossing index under mixed traffic condition

IntroductionThere are a variety of challenges faced by pedestrians when they walk along and attempt to cross a road, as the most recorded accidents occur during this time. Pedestrians of all types, including both sexes with numerous aging groups, are always subjected to risk and are characterized as the most exposed road users. The increased demand for better traffic management strategies to reduce the risks at intersections, improve quality traffic management, traffic volume, and longer cycle time has further increased concerns over the past decade. MethodThis paper aims to develop a sustainable pedestrian gap crossing index model based on traffic flow density. It focusses on the gaps accepted by pedestrians and their decision for street crossing, where (Log-Gap) logarithm of accepted gaps was used to optimize the result of a model for gap crossing behavior. Through a review of extant literature, 15 influential variables were extracted for further empirical analysis. Subsequently, data from the observation at an uncontrolled mid-block in Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was gathered and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Binary Logit Model (BLM) techniques were employed to analyze the results. Results and conclusionsFrom the results, different pedestrian behavioral characteristics were considered for a minimum gap size model, out of which only a few (four) variables could explain the pedestrian road crossing behavior while the remaining variables have an insignificant effect. Among the different variables, age, rolling gap, vehicle type, and crossing were the most influential variables. The study concludes that pedestrians’ decision to cross the street depends on the pedestrian age, rolling gap, vehicle type, and size of traffic gap before crossing. Practical applicationsThe inferences from these models will be useful to increase pedestrian safety and performance evaluation of uncontrolled midblock road crossings in developing countries.

Consideration of a Pedestrian Speed Change Model in the Pedestrian–Vehicle Safety Assessment of Signalized Crosswalks

Pedestrian safety is one of the most challenging issues in the road network. Understanding the pedestrian maneuver is the key to applying countermeasures against traffic crashes. It is known that behaviors of pedestrians at signalized crosswalks are significantly different from ordinary walking spaces and they are highly influenced by signal indication, potential conflicts to vehicles and intersection geometries. One of the most important characteristics of pedestrian behavior at crosswalks is the possible sudden speed change while crossing. Such sudden behavioral change may not be expected by conflicting vehicles, which may lead to hazardous situations. This study aims to quantitatively model the pedestrians' sudden speed change maneuver at signalized crosswalks under uncongested conditions. Pedestrian speed profiles are collected from empirical data and speed change events are extracted assuming that the speed profiles are stepwise functions. The occurrence of the speed change events is described by a discrete choice model as a function of the necessary walking speed to complete crossing before red interval, current speed, and the presence of turning vehicles in the conflict area. The amount of speed change before and after the event is modeled using regression analysis. A Monte- Carlo simulation is applied for the entire speed profile of the pedestrians. The results showed that the model was able to represent the pedestrian travel time distribution more accurately than the constant speed model.

Proactive pedestrian safety evaluation at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions

The pedestrian safety can be evaluated by proactive methods (conflict techniques). Proactive method is a cost-effective technique as compared to the historic crash data analysis. Pedestrian safety studies at mid-block crosswalks based on proactive methods are required due to the growing number of pedestrian crossing facilities in developing countries. Hence, the present study evaluated the pedestrian safety at unprotected mid-block crosswalks by considering the proactive safety measure as a pedestrian safety margin (PSM). PSM is the time difference between accepted vehicular time gap with reference to the pedestrian crossing path and pedestrian actual crossing time (based on the field conditions). To fulfill this objective eight unprotected mid-block crosswalks were selected which have different roadway characteristics. Video graphic survey has been conducted for data collection at these locations. PSM values were extracted corresponding to the pedestrian behavioural, vehicular and traffic characteristics at all the eight crosswalks. Further, stepwise regression and binary logit models (the probability of pedestrian-vehicle non-conflict) have been developed in order to find out the factors contributing to the PSM values as well as predicting the probability of avoiding conflict with an approaching vehicle at unprotected mid-block crosswalks. From the study, it is observed that pedestrian behavioural characteristics such as rolling behaviour and speed change conditions significantly reduce the PSM values, and it influences the probability of avoiding conflict with an approaching vehicle at unprotected mid-block crosswalks. These findings may be useful for evaluation of the existing unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations and for increasing the pedestrian safety at these crosswalks by considering suitable control measurements on pedestrian behaviour under mixed traffic conditions.

Pedestrian quality of service at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions: towards quantitative approach

Safety, comfort, convenience and minimal delay are essential for pedestrians at mid-block crosswalk locations. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the quality of crosswalk with these qualitative parameters. In this study, qualitative parameters such as safety, crossing opportunities (available time gaps) and delay index values are considered as a single measure of effectiveness as a Pedestrian Crossing Index (PCI) for evaluation of Quality Of Service (QOS) at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions. Further, the study is aimed at identifying the factors contributing to the pedestrian QOS. In order to achieve these objectives, field surveys were conducted at eight different unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations to collect pedestrian individual (age and gender), behavioural, traffic and roadway characteristics. An ordered probit model has been developed to find out the significant factors contributing to the pedestrian QOS by taking QOS as the dependent variable and other collected variables as independent variables. The model results show that several factors have significant effect on pedestrian QOS and out of these, factors such as rolling behaviour, speed change behaviour of pedestrian, vehicle speed, number of lanes and number of vehicle encountered were identified as the primary factors affecting pedestrian QOS at unprotected midblock crosswalk locations. The developed model may be useful for design and evaluation of the existing pedestrian QOS at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions.