Pedestrian Phase Research Articles

Hybrid Model for Pedestrian-Induced Lateral Vibrations of Footbridge Based on Pedestrian Phase Evolution and Inverted Pendulum Model: Simulation and Validation

Hybrid Model for Pedestrian-Induced Lateral Vibrations of Footbridge Based on Pedestrian Phase Evolution and Inverted Pendulum Model: Simulation and Validation

Unified strategy for cooperative optimization of pedestrian control patterns and signal timing plans at intersections

Pedestrian traffic management and control at intersections is crucial for ensuring traffic safety and efficiency while promoting green transportation development. Numerous studies have been conducted on optimizing signal timing of various pedestrian control patterns, such as exclusive pedestrian phases (EPPs) and leading pedestrian intervals (LPIs). However, cooperative optimization of these patterns and the corresponding signal timing is lacking. Hence, this study proposes a unified strategy for the cooperative optimization of pedestrian control patterns and signal timing plans to improve the efficiency and safety of pedestrian–vehicle mixed traffic flow. The existing control patterns, such as EPPs, LPIs, and two-way crossing (TWC), are unified. The safety and efficiency costs are monetized, and the minimization of average costs per traffic participant is taken as the optimization objective. Additionally, decision variables for diagonal crossing at intersections and pedestrian–vehicle priority are introduced to achieve cooperative optimization of the pedestrian control patterns and signal timing plans. The proposed model parameters were calibrated and validated using a real-world case study, and the applicable boundaries of different pedestrian control patterns under different pedestrian and vehicle flow scenarios were identified based on cost difference analysis. The results indicate that the vehicle turn ratio, average vehicle carrying rate, and unit cost ratio dynamically change the applicable boundaries. On average, the proposed method reduced the cost by 2.62% compared with separately optimized EPPs, LPIs, and TWC across various scenarios.

Performance Analysis of One-Level Signalized Urban Intersections with Exclusive Pedestrian Phases and Diagonal Crossings

The exclusive pedestrian (hereinafter P) phase with a diagonal crossing is routinely introduced to improve P safety at high-volume intersections. The article analyses and evaluates the feasibility of the exclusive P phase and diagonal crossing at single-level smaller intersections, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the exclusive P phase and diagonal crossing from the point of view of time losses. In the experimental part, traffic flow modelling is carried out. The traffic flow simulations show that an exclusive P phase is most beneficial in terms of time losses at an intersection with 2+2 lane intersecting streets and ≥ 900 P/hour with ≥ 1600 vehicles/hour (hereinafter V). In addition, an exclusive P phase can be implemented at the small intersections analysed in this paper, where the volume of V is low or medium, regardless of the number of P at the intersection.

Performance Analysis of One-Level Signalized Urban Intersections with Exclusive Pedestrian Phases and Diagonal Crossings

The exclusive pedestrian (hereinafter P) phase with a diagonal crossing is routinely introduced to improve P safety at high-volume intersections. The article analyses and evaluates the feasibility of the exclusive P phase and diagonal crossing at single-level smaller intersections, identifying the advantages and disadvantages of the exclusive P phase and diagonal crossing from the point of view of time losses. In the experimental part, traffic flow modelling is carried out. The traffic flow simulations show that an exclusive P phase is most beneficial in terms of time losses at an intersection with 2+2 lane intersecting streets and ≥ 900 P/hour with ≥ 1600 vehicles/hour (hereinafter V). In addition, an exclusive P phase can be implemented at the small intersections analysed in this paper, where the volume of V is low or medium, regardless of the number of P at the intersection.

Road Safety Criteria for Mid-Block Pedestrian Crossing Facility and Application of ITS Technologies

This paper describes an attempt made to evaluate the pedestrian's road crossing facility at midblock to relate with pedestrian road crossing behaviour and identify the variables influencing pedestrian road crossing decisions. The decision of pedestrians on road crossing depends on many other elements like yielding behaviour of a driver, vehicle speed, roadway width, traffic volume etc. Pedestrians road crossing data collected through videographic survey at Kozhikode city, Kerala, India were used to evaluate the pedestrian crossing facility. Regression model has been developed considering the pedestrian waiting time as dependent variable and vehicle speed and volume as independent variable. Further, a computational tool is developed to derive suitable criteria for regulating the number of pedestrian phases based on the percentage of vehicles in the queue formation for varying levels of interruptions and vehicle arrival rate. The criteria has been derived such that the negative force exerted by vehicles and drivers during pedestrian road crossing to a minimum level, through the implementation of signal control using Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technologies. Further, the queuing analysis results helps to identify the criteria for proposing grade-separated crossing based on the threshold value of the percentage of vehicles in the queue formation. From the queuing analysis, it was found that, the percentage of vehicle in queue has been increased from 19.44% to 38.89% for the arrival rate of 1200v/h when the number of pedestrian interruptions per hour is increased from 20 to 40. Also, it is observed that when the arrival rate increases from 1200 to 1800 v/h the percentage of vehicle in queue increases 19.44% to 77.78% for 20 number of pedestrian interruptions. The prediction tool developed may help the transportation policymakers and highway officials to evaluate the field conditions and to identify suitable control measures for the pedestrian facility with improved pedestrian safety and vehicular traffic efficiency.

Comparison of the Performance of Hybrid Traffic Signal Patterns and Conventional Alternatives When Accounting for Both Pedestrians and Vehicles

Traffic control systems are crucial for managing traffic flows. Their main function is to reduce interactions among users for safety reasons, while minimizing the travel times. Researchers often concentrate on the cycle length, whose impact on travel times is directly measurable. However, the choice of the signal pattern may also have a great potential to reduce travel times and unsafe situations. This potential is yet to be thoroughly investigated. In this work, we are interested in comparing different signal patterns in terms of the number of potential conflicts and delay time for both drivers and pedestrians. To this end, we first select three commonly adopted signal patterns, namely the Exclusive Pedestrian Phase (EPP), the Leading Through Interval (LTI) and the Two-Way Crossing (TWC). We then generalize existing methods for measuring user delay and safety for these three signal patterns. Moreover, we investigate a hypothetical hybrid pattern obtained by dynamically adapting the signal pattern to real-time data. The proposed methodology is applied to a case study considering an isolated intersection in Montreal, Canada. We perform computational experiments geared towards determining the best pattern according to ad hoc performance indicators and user flows. Results show that the EPP and LTI patterns generally perform better than TWC. EPP generally outperforms LTI when measuring the number of potential conflicts, while LTI outperforms EPP when considering delay times. Furthermore, the hypothetical hybrid pattern shows a positive but overall limited impact regarding both delay times and number of potential conflicts.

Modeling the Dynamic Exclusive Pedestrian Phase Based on Transportation Equity and Cost Analysis.

The exclusive pedestrian phase (EPP) has proven to be an effective method of eliminating pedestrian–vehicle conflicts at signalized intersections. The existing EPP setting conditions take traffic efficiency and safety as optimization goals, which may contribute to unfair interactions between vehicles and pedestrians. This study develops a multiobjective optimization framework to determine the EPP setting criteria, with consideration for the tradeoff between transportation equity and cost. In transportation equity modeling and considering environmental conditions, the transportation equity index is proposed to quantify pedestrian–vehicle equity differences. In cost modeling, traffic safety and efficiency factors are converted into monetary values, and the pedestrian–vehicle interaction is introduced. To validate the proposed optimization framework, a video-based data collection is conducted on wet and dry environment conditions at the selected intersection. The parameters in the proposed model are calibrated based on the results of the video analysis. This study compares the performance of the multiobjective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA) and the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) methods in building the sets of nondominated solutions. The optimization results show that the decrease in transportation equity will lead to an increase in cost. The obtained Pareto front approximations correspond to diverse signal timing patterns and achieve a balance between optimizing either objective to different extents. The sensitivity analysis reveals the application domains for the EPP and the traditional two-way control phase (TWC) under different vehicular/pedestrian demand, yielding rate, and environment conditions. The EPP control is more suitable at intersections with high pedestrian volumes and low yielding rates, especially in wet conditions. The results provide operational guidelines for decision-makers for properly selecting the pedestrian phase pattern at signalized intersections.

Evaluation of Exclusive Pedestrian Phase Safety Performance at One-Level Signalized Intersections in Vilnius

This work aims to identify the effectiveness of one-level signalized intersections with exclusive pedestrian phases in terms of vehicle-pedestrian crashes resulting in pedestrian injury or fatality. The work analyzes and evaluates specific exclusive pedestrian phases without diagonal crossing possibility at one-level signalized intersections in the city of Vilnius. Anonymized data on traffic accidents from the Lithuanian Police Department Accident Register were used for safety analysis purposes. The traffic accident data cover all traffic accidents with dead or injured persons. The traffic accident data was analyzed with the help of QGIS for selected time intervals (before and after analysis). The density of traffic accidents was calculated with the help of the comparative analysis method at 11 signalized intersections in Vilnius City, where an exclusive pedestrian phase without diagonal crossing was implemented. An exclusive pedestrian phase with diagonal crossing is usually implemented to increase pedestrian safety at a signalized intersection with a high pedestrian intensity. The analysis carried out indicates that the specific exclusive pedestrian phase without diagonal crossings in Vilnius reduced pedestrian traffic accidents by up to 100%. No traffic accidents occurred after the installation of the exclusive pedestrian phase at intersections where there were no pedestrian accidents prior to the installation.

Advanced Transition Preemption Strategy for Signalized Intersections near Highway-Rail Grade Crossings with Dual Tracks

The current preemption method for traffic signals at intersections located near highway-rail grade crossings (IHRGC) is known as the standard preemption (SP). The SP strategy is designed to give priority to the phases which clear vehicles off the railroad tracks as quickly as possible before a train arrives at HRGCs and provides the drivers and pedestrians with a minimum warning time (MWT). However, the SP considers neither pedestrian safety nor system efficiency at IHRGCs. As a result, this may lead to safety and delay problems at IHRGCs. To solve the problems, a state-of-the-art transition preemption strategy (TPS) algorithm, named TPS_DT, is developed in this paper. The new TPS algorithm is designed for corridors with multiple HGRCs that have dual tracks. An urban highway corridor with multiple HRGCs in Lincoln, NE, was selected as the study corridor. A calibrated VISSIM model of the study corridor was used to test the safety and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The algorithm was coded in VAP, which is an add-on module of VISSIM. A roadway-railway corridor with multiple IHRGC and dual rail tracks in Lincoln, NE, was used as the testbed. The Measurements of Effectiveness (MOEs) used for evaluation include the rate of pedestrian phase cutoffs, intersection vehicle delay, and corridor vehicle delay. It was found that TPS_DT can significantly improve pedestrian safety and reduce vehicle delay at IHRGCs. Furthermore, the effects of train arrival prediction errors on safety and efficiency of the IHRGCs are also analyzed in the paper.

A Quantitative Approach for Timing the Pedestrian Walk Interval

At a typical signalized intersection, the pedestrian phase consists of a walk interval and a change/clearance interval, during which pedestrians are given the right of way. The walk interval is intended to allow pedestrians to exit the curb ramp and enter the crosswalk. The clearance interval will enable them to cross entirely to the other side of the road. Unfortunately, the literature is quite vague on how long the walk interval should be and provides values ranging from 4 to 15 seconds based on qualitative pedestrian demand ranging from Negligible to High. To provide some quantitative guidance for walk interval selection, this paper reports on a study that collected 1,500 pedestrian movement data from 12 signalized intersections with varying pedestrian demand, pedestrian storage areas, and pedestrian push-button locations. The data was used to propose a quantitative model for designers to select the appropriate walk interval. Specifically, this paper seeks to add values to the Traffic Operations Handbook walk-interval guidelines as to how many pedestrians are considered “negligible volume” and can be accommodated by the 4 second minimum time, how many pedestrians are considered “typical volume” and require 7 to 10 seconds, and how many pedestrians are considered “high volume” and require 10 to 15 seconds, or perhaps longer. In addition to examining pedestrian demand, this paper looks at the impact of storage areas and pedestrian push-button location on pedestrian start-up time and, consequently, an appropriate walk interval.

ПОВЫШЕНИЕ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ РЕГУЛИРУЕМЫХ ПЕРЕКРЁСТКОВ ПУТЁМ ВВЕДЕНИЯ ВЫДЕЛЕННОЙ ПЕШЕХОДНОЙ ФАЗЫ

The study examines the issue of improving road safety by separating traffic and pedestrian flows. On the example of the Russian city of Tyumen, the main Respublika street is analyzed, where intersections with an exclusive pedestrian phase with the possibility of crossing diagonally are identified. An experiment was carried out to establish the proportion of pedestrians crossing in a diagonal direction. At the same time, it was found that at the intersections under study, this type of transition does not comply with the traffic rules. On the basis of the implemented research, options for improving the regulation of pedestrian flows are proposed, including for bringing them into compliance with traffic rules.

MODEL OF INTELLECTUAL PEDESTRIAN FLOW MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This scientific article proposes a model of pedestrian and car flow control system that can characterize the operation of two different control modes, the first of which is fully automatic, and the second works in automated mode, the results of which depend on information about the current situation on the road. the number of pedestrians and cars or depends on the intensity of traffic. In order to demonstrate the work of the proposed model, we will take some sections of the direct road where there is an adjustable pedestrian crossing. The system can determine the number of pedestrians in two ways: through surveillance cameras and with available statistics, such as information about the intensity at specific times. The second method, namely the application of pre-known parameters such as the intensity of pedestrian and traffic flows is used when it is impossible to determine the current situation on the road due to some reasons such as accident, bad weather and so on. The modes will be switched using the functionwhich will determine the mode of regulation of traffic lights according to the time intervals at which the intensity of the flows will also change. The automatic control system will work during rush hour, when the city's transport network operates. the greatest load. The second mode is for certain periods of time when the intensity of pedestrian flow is low, for example at night. The relationship between these intensity and time will be established statistically. The mode of automatic or "hard" regulation determines the duration of the pedestrian and car phases of traffic lights depending on the number of pedestrians and cars. If it is impossible to determine the number of road users using video cameras, then we calculate due to the intensity of traffic flows, and the automated control mode, ie "call" calculates the duration of the delay between two calls and the duration of the pedestrian phase. crowds and traffic near regulated pedestrian crossings.

Pedestrian crossing in crossroads with exclusive pedestrian phase - world experiences

Pedestrians are one of the most endangered and vulnerable groups of participants in traffic. In order to increase their safety, different kinds of management measures are applied. Exclusive pedestrian phase represents a measure from a group of technical traffic regulations and implies complete time separation of pedestrian flow from wheel flow. The object of this paper is to analyse world experience in applying exclusive pedestrian phase in order to understand effects on safety of pedestrians in traffic and to apply it in our conditions.

Evaluating Pedestrian Crash-Prone Locations to Formulate Policy Interventions for Improved Safety and Walkability at Sidewalks and Crosswalks

This study presents a methodology for evaluating a set of crash-prone sidewalk and crosswalk locations in an urban area with respect to their existing walkability condition and recommending improvement needs. Initially, a set of 15 sidewalk specific and 10 crosswalk specific attributes relevant to India were identified from the literature. Subsequently, the analytical hierarchy process was used to estimate relative weights associated with the attributes from the perspective of relevant experts. A weighted sum method was then used to formulate a Sidewalk Condition Index (SCI) and Crosswalk Condition Index (CCI) for evaluating the condition of the existing pedestrian sidewalks and crosswalk infrastructures. Ten locations across Hyderabad with the highest pedestrian fatalities during the last three calendar years were selected as study locations. The location specific SCI and CCI estimates were used to prioritize the locations with regard to their existing condition and infrastructural requirements. Results indicated that sidewalk attributes such as sidewalk lighting, cleanliness, physical separation of traffic, and traffic speed, and crosswalk attributes such as conflicts with crossing traffic, crosswalk illumination, and intersection control, influenced safety and walkability significantly. Measures such as the provision of exclusive right-of-way for pedestrians, maintaining the sidewalk quality, enforcing no jaywalking, re-design of signal timing with pedestrian phase, and provision of zebra crossings and refuge islands, would improve walkability at pedestrian crash-prone locations across Hyderabad. This proposed methodology and the research findings could act as a critical tool to improve the overall safety and walkability of sidewalks and crosswalks in Indian cities.

Development of Pedestrian Recall Versus Actuation Guidelines for Pedestrian Crossings at Signalized Intersections

At signalized intersections, pedestrian phases can be configured as recall or pushbutton actuated. While pedestrian recall results in a moderate reduction in pedestrian delay because, with recall, a pedestrian arriving during the time nominally reserved for the Walk interval will be served immediately rather than waiting to be served in the next cycle, it can also lead to longer cycle lengths, increasing delay for all users, including pedestrians. This research explores the impact of pedestrian recall along a coordinated-actuated arterial for pedestrians crossing the mainline (i.e., crossing the coordinated phase) to provide pedestrian recall versus actuation guidelines for agencies. The guidance was developed with the aim of balancing pedestrian delay with operational efficiency for vehicles. Two criteria were considered while developing the guidance: (1) pedestrian demand; and (2) vehicular green time duration for the concurrent vehicle phase that is parallel to the pedestrian crossing. VISSIM microsimulation software was used on a real network in Fairfax County, Virginia to model the effects of pedestrian recall and actuation. Results showed that pedestrian recall should be considered when pedestrian demand is large enough that there is a pedestrian call in most cycles (pedestrian probability in a given cycle is greater than 0.6 or pedestrian volume per cycle is greater than 0.9). The guidance also suggests setting pedestrian phases on recall when the length of the vehicular green for the concurrent phase is long enough in most cycles that a pedestrian phase would fit without constraining the signal cycle length.

Multi-objective optimization of a single intersection

ABSTRACT Algorithms for optimizing traffic operations at a single intersection consider mostly one objective function (often vehicle delays). Such an approach can lead to long pedestrian waiting times as well as reducing safety conditions at the intersection. In this paper, a multicriteria optimization approach to the single intersection traffic control problem is presented. The trade-off algorithm between vehicle and pedestrian delay, under a fixed time control model, is developed. The metaheuristic Bee Colony Optimization (BCO), inspired by bee behavior in nature, is incorporated in the proposed approach. To solve the multicriteria optimization problem an interactive algorithm is used. The proposed approach is tested on an appropriate numerical example. Results show that by worsening vehicle delays, pedestrian delays can be improved, particularly under phase plans with an exclusive pedestrian phase. Future research should consider the inclusion of the safety exposure of vehicles and pedestrians into the proposed methodology.

Conditions for Setting Exclusive Pedestrian Phases at Two-Phase Signalized Intersections considering Pedestrian-Vehicle Interaction

In order to analyze the effectiveness of setting exclusive pedestrian phase (EPP) under different vehicle yielding rates, the effect of EPPs on traffic efficiency is studied and a setting condition of EPP considering pedestrian-vehicle interaction is proposed in this paper. First, the main factors influencing the behavior of vehicles and pedestrians during pedestrian-vehicle interaction are analyzed, and a pedestrian-vehicle interaction (PVI) model at the crosswalk of urban road is established. Second, assuming that vehicle arrival obeys the Poisson distribution, the delay models of vehicle passengers and pedestrians crossing the street at the intersection are established, and taking the total delay of traffic participants as the main index, the setting condition of EPP are proposed. Third, based on the video of pedestrian-vehicle interaction at crosswalks, the parameters of the proposed model are calibrated. Through sensitivity analysis, the change of the total delay of traffic participants is analyzed under different conditions of pedestrian and vehicle arrival rates. Finally, by introducing pedestrian-vehicle interaction rules, a cellular automata (CA) simulation platform of pedestrian-vehicle interaction in crosswalk is established; based on the field data of Shanghai, a simulation model of intersection is established, and the total delay, queue length, and vehicle throughput under conventional signal control plan and EPP plan are compared. The results show that the pedestrian-vehicle interaction process has a great influence on the total delay of traffic participants at intersections, and pedestrian-vehicle interaction should be considered in the setting conditions of EPP. Under the same condition of vehicular flow, the more the pedestrian flow is, the smaller the delay increment will be. The higher the vehicle yielding rate is, the smaller the delay increment will be after setting EPP.

Условия эффективного применения выделенных пешеходных фаз

This article analyses researches of the effectiveness of exclusive pedestrian phases and diagonal pedestrian crossings. The conditions for effective use of exclusive pedestrian phases and diagonal pedestrian crossings, as well as the traffic and pedestrians` conflicting volumes require clarification based on special research data, the relevance of which is obvious.

Moving object recognition system on a pedestrian crossing

The article discusses the development of a system for recognizing people at a pedestrian crossing. The recognition system includes a trained classifier and two sets of images taken from an open database containing images of city streets from outdoor cameras. Input information prepared using PictureCropper application. The classifier was tested based on the prepared sets of images. The result is shown in the figure, and after testing, the metrics were calculated, necessary to assess the effectiveness of the resulting classifier for each set. System is being developed for specialists, which will allow individual and centralized adjustment of the adjustment of pedestrian phases for each road situation, both for the local system of controllers, and in accordance with the existing algorithms of coordination systems with the expansion of such.

Evaluation of dynamic passive pedestrian detection

Dynamic passive pedestrian detection (DPPD) has the potential to enhance the operational efficiency and safety of signalized intersections by cancelling unnecessary pedestrian service calls or extending the pedestrian phase to allow a pedestrian to safely finish crossing the street. This paper examines the accuracy and reliability of two thermal sensors and one optical sensor for DPPD at one mid-block crossing location and one signalized intersection in Washington County, Oregon. Results indicate the average accuracy rate for the thermal sensors was 89% at the signalized intersection and 82% at the mid-block location. The most common inaccurate detection types for the thermal sensors were Late, Held, and Miss calls. Average accuracy rate for the optical sensor was 26% at the signalized intersection and 83% at the mid-block location. The most common error types for the optical sensors were Spotty, Late, and Miss calls. False detections most often occurred for both sensors when vehicles and bicycles in the roadway crossed into the detection zones. Weather and lighting conditions affected thermal sensor accuracy, while only pedestrian type affected optical sensor accuracy. Pedestrian curbside waiting habits, jaywalking, and implications for sensor selection, deployment, and development are discussed.