Pedestrian Risk Taking While Road Crossing: A Comparison of Observed and Declared Behaviour

AbstractThe objective of this research is the comparative analysis of observed and declared behaviour of pedestrians as regards road crossing in urban areas. A field survey was carried out, in which a panel of 75 young and middle-aged pedestrians (out of which 40 males) were asked to take 8 short walking trips (each one corresponding to a different walking and crossing scenario and involving one road crossing) in the Athens city centre in Greece. This allowed to record their crossing behaviour in different road and traffic conditions, including residential roads, main urban roads and major urban arterials. The same individuals were asked to fill in a questionnaire on their crossing behaviour and preferences at different road and traffic environments, as well as other related questions concerning their travel motivations, their mobility characteristics, their risk perceptions and preferences etc. A comparative analysis of their declared and observed crossing behaviour was carried out. More specifically, for each pedestrian, the rate of mid-block crossing and diagonal crossing during the walking tasks was calculated for the different road and traffic conditions. These were compared to their questionnaire responses on their crossing behaviour in different road and traffic conditions. The results suggest that, overall, pedestrians observed behaviour is in accordance with their declared behaviour. However, there is a non-negligible share of pedestrians, whose observed and declared behaviour were discordant, either at specific road and traffic conditions or overall. For instance, there were pedestrians who declared that they never cross at mid-block on major urban road but did so during the survey. Moreover, there were pedestrians who declared high frequency of mid-block crossing, but did not implement these crossing practices during the survey. The degree of discordance between pedestrian observed and declared behaviour was further analysed in relation to pedestrian demographics. A weak tendency was identified for female pedestrians to have more discordance between observed and declared crossing behaviour on residential roads, and the same was the case for young pedestrians in all road and traffic conditions. Overall, the results suggest that, while most pedestrians appear to have consistent declared and observed behaviour, there may all deviate from their general “profile” under specific conditions

Smart pedestrian network is an approach for promoting walkability: A case of Riyadh city

SPN is an important aspect of smart and sustainable mobility in cities that promote walkability (SPN) Walking is becoming an important component of transportation and urban policies to achieve more sustainable development. Riyadh's rapid urban expansion and population growth have increased pedestrian accidents and damaged people's daily walking conditions during the last four decades. As a result, implementing the Smart Pedestrian Network has the potential to significantly increase walkability and create more sustainable urban spaces. The research technique is deductive, with modern technology playing a significant part in introducing new ways to pedestrian path planning and design, ultimately improving this form of transportation in Riyadh. The current paper concluded with proposed guidelines for strategic implementation using the Smart Pedestrian Network system and a conceptual framework for smart pedestrian networks, both of which could add value to exploring the pedestrian network in more advanced ways in Riyadh. The application of a smart network for pedestrians resulted in increased walkability and satisfaction with walking in Riyadh city, according to the findings

Pedestrians' preferences regarding signalised crossings, footbridges, and underpasses

This paper reports the results of a survey to understand the preferences of pedestrians towards using different types of crossing facilities. Participants were first asked to indicate how comfortable they felt using different types of crossings. Footbridges and underpasses were systematically rated below signalised crossings. Participants were then presented with a scenario where crossing the road at their current location was impossible and were asked to choose between walking additional times to reach certain types of facility or avoid crossing the road altogether. The analysis of the choices using a mixed logit model found that participants chose staggered signalised crossings, footbridges, and underpasses, if the walking times to those crossings were respectively 1.1, 4.6, and 4.1 minutes shorter than the times to access straight signalised crossings. On average, participants only chose to avoid crossing the road if the straight signalised crossings were located at least 20.7 minutes away. Older participants required greater reductions and participants who walk to work required smaller reductions in walking time in order to use facilities other than straight crossings. The values obtained were slightly smaller and not always statistically significant when using a conditional logit formulation. The study provides information that is useful for policy decisions about the frequency of provision and the type of pedestrian facilities provided to cross busy roads

A Combined Fuzzy Logic and Analytical Hierarchy Process Method for Optimal Selection and Locating of Pedestrian Crosswalks

One of the main challenges for transportation engineers is the consideration of pedestrian safety as the most vulnerable aspect of the transport system. In many countries around the world, a large number of accidents recorded by the police are composed of accidents involving pedestrians and vehicles, for example when pedestrians may be struck by passing vehicles when crossing the street. Careful consideration of the parameters that are involved in selecting the type and optimum location of pedestrian crosswalks results in a higher pedestrian safety coefficient and a reduced accident rate at these facilities. At the start of this study, these parameters that are important in specifying the optimum type and location of pedestrian crosswalks were determined. Then the data layers of these identified parameters were defined using the ArcGIS software. These layers can subsequently be used for determination of the optimal positioning of pedestrian crosswalks. To specify the boundary changes for each parameter, fuzzy membership functions were defined for each parameter using fuzzy logic. The Analytical Hierarchy Process method (AHP) was used in order to combine these layers of information after the fuzzy membership functions were defined. Expert Choice software was used to determine the final weight resultant of the professionals' poll that was conducted. A field study sample has been carried out to determine the optimal location of pedestrian crosswalks in the city of Tehran. The final output from the ArcGIS software shows the ideal locations and the appropriate type of pedestrian crosswalks in the field study sample. The results indicate that the use of fuzzy logic in definition of membership functions of location parameters, along with using AHP for determination of the weight of data layers built in ArcGIS, is a satisfactory combined method for specifying the location of pedestrian crosswalks

Pedestrian risk perception of marked and unmarked crosswalks in Kumasi, Ghana

Pedestrians constitute the majority of all urban road crashes in Ghana, yet there is inadequate supply of pedestrian facilities, and road-user behaviours have been cited as a major contributing factor to the high crash rates. This study seeks to investigate how pedestrians perceive risk at different crosswalks. The study adopted a mixed-method approach, where secondary crash data for 30 selected crosswalks was correlated with corresponding primary data that consisted of pedestrian surveys. The crash data from 2011 through 2014 was obtained from the database of the Building and Road Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-BRRI) in Kumasi, and supplemented with a survey of 900 pedestrians. The results revealed that pedestrians perceived marked crosswalks to be safer than unmarked crosswalks, but this is contrary to the crash records. Also, most of the crashes were registered for crosswalks located across multilane highways. In light of these results, it is recommended that the safety features of crosswalks be re-examined, while restricting indiscriminate crossing by channelling pedestrians to designated protected crossing points, installing traffic control devices and other speed-calming devices at identified high-risk crosswalks, and signalising crosswalks that are located on multilane roads. It is also recommended to intensify road safety campaigns and public education on safe road-crossing practices, while enforcing traffic safety laws to influence road-user behaviours

Validação de dois cenários para avaliar o comportamento de peões em ambiente virtual

Dois cenários virtuais foram modelados, com base em duas passagens para peões reais. Foi efetuada a validação destes cenários, comparando valores de tempo até à colisão (TTC) obtidos em experiências virtuais realizadas por 10 participantes, com valores do TTC adquiridos através de gravações vídeo in situ. Verificou-se consistência nas respostas dos participantes em ambos os cenários, assim como semelhança dos valores médios do TTC adquiridos na experiência e em captações de vídeo. Conclui-se que a modelação dos cenários foi bem realizada, o que viabiliza a sua utilização para estudos de comportamento de peões.Este trabalho enquadra-se nas atividades do projeto de investigação AnPeB – Análise do comportamento de peões com base em ambientes simulados e sua incorporação na modelação de risco (PTDC/ECM-TRA/3568/2014), foi financiado no âmbito do projeto Promover a Produção Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico e a Constituição de Redes Temáticas (3599-PPCDT) e comparticipado pelo Fundo Comunitário Europeu FEDER e da bolsa de doutoramento SFRH/BD/131638/2017, financiada pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Estimating preferences for different types of pedestrian crossing facilities

This paper reports the results of a study to understand the preferences of pedestrians towards using different types of road crossing facilities. A preliminary qualitative study found that people’s perceptions about crossing facilities are shaped by aspects such as safety, convenience, crossing time, accessibility, and personal security. The main quantitative study consisted of a stated preference survey implemented in three neighbourhoods in English cities near busy roads. Participants were first asked to indicate how comfortable they felt using different types of crossing facilities. Footbridges and underpasses were systematically rated below signalised crossings. Participants were then asked to choose between walking different additional times to use certain types of crossing facility or avoid crossing the road altogether. The analysis of the choices using a mixed logit model found that on average participants are willing to walk an additional 2.4 and 5.3 minutes to use a straight signalised crossing and avoid using footbridges and underpasses, respectively. Women and older participants were willing to walk longer additional times to avoid those facilities. Participants only avoid crossing the road if the additional time to use straight signalised crossings is at least 20.9 minutes. The estimated values for the willingness to walk were slightly smaller when using a conditional logit model. The study provides information that is useful for policy decisions about the frequency and the type of pedestrian facilities provided to cross busy roads

Análisis espacial con agrupamientos kernel ponderados para determinar sectores de riesgo por accidentes de tráfico en zona urbana. Análisis Tunja, Colombia

A method is presented to identify and determine groups with risk sectors due to the greater occurrence of traffic accidents in urban areas as an integral component in road safety management. The methodology was framed in Spatial Analysis with geographic statistics based on Exploratory Data Analysis (AED), Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), and the application of correlation and geoprocessing techniques. The accident data collected between 2015 and 2018 from the urban area of ​​Tunja, Boyacá, Colombia, were the basis for the study of the distribution of events, characterization of clusters, occurrence dynamics and pattern modeling. The definition and delimitation of risks depended on the dispersion or grouping (Hotspots) found with weighted Kernel together with the socio-spatial interrelation of underlying processes due to the territorial dynamics of the sector. The results reveal patterns of events in concentration foci with different levels of risk, in which land uses of opposite characteristics coexist according to their activities [commercial and residential], socioeconomic sectors of low strata with a mixture of arterial road network that by its functionality mobilizes high vehicular and pedestrian flows. Although the analysis is limited to a case study, the findings show a promising perspective in road safety by delimiting risk sites for traffic accidents through the incidence of territorial variables.Se presenta un método para identificar y determinar agrupaciones con sectores de riesgo por mayor ocurrencia de accidentes de tránsito en áreas urbanas como un componente integral en la gestión de seguridad vial. La metodología se enmarcó en el Análisis Espacial con estadística geográfica fundamentada sobre el Análisis Exploratorio de Datos (AED), la estimación Densidad Kernel (KDE), y la aplicación de técnicas de correlación y geoprocesamiento. Los datos de accidentes recopilados entre 2015 a 2018 de la zona urbana de Tunja, Boyacá, Colombia, fueron la base para el estudio de la distribución de eventos, caracterización de agrupaciones, dinámica de ocurrencia y la modelación de patrones. La definición y delimitación de riesgos dependió de la dispersión o agrupamiento (Hotspots) hallados con Kernel ponderado junto con la interrelación socioespacial de procesos subyacentes por la dinámica territorial del sector. Los resultados revelan patrones de eventos en focos de concentración con diferentes niveles de riesgo, en el que coexisten usos de suelo de características opuestas de acuerdo con sus actividades [comercial y residencial], sectores socioeconómicos de estratos bajos con mezcla de red vial arterial que por su funcionalidad moviliza altos flujos vehiculares y peatonales. A pesar de que el análisis se limita a un estudio de caso, los hallazgos muestran una perspectiva prometedora en seguridad vial al delimitar sitios de riesgo por accidentes de tráfico a través de la incidencia de variables territoriales

Quantifying community severance - A literature review

Comparing with other local effects of transport planning, the issue of community severance (or "barrier effect") has been neglected by both policy-makers and researchers. Severance is usually defined as the separation of local communities by transport infrastructure or road traffic. In most countries, the issue is either not included in project appraisal or included using general qualitative scales. A diversity of methods for quantifying community severance has been proposed over the years, but these proposals have very rarely been implemented. This paper reviews the existing research on this topic, including government guidance documents for transport appraisal in several countries, reports to public authorities and academic and technical papers. The focus is on the methods to identify and measure the effects of transport infrastructure and road traffic on local mobility and accessibility, especially in the case of pedestrians. The challenges for the integration of these methods in actual transport planning are also identified