Pedestrians' Speed Analysis at Signalized Crosswalks

Pedestrian speed is essential for designing signal timings as well as for understanding pedestrian safety issues. This paper presents analysis of three types of pedestrian speeds (entry speed, crossing speed, and exit speed) at three signalized crosswalks in the State of Qatar. Pedestrian movements were tracked using TrafficAnalyzer software and data were analyzed to determine the effect of signal indications, crosswalk length, and crossing direction on pedestrian speeds. The results of this analysis showed that only 23.69% pedestrians crossed legally, during pedestrian green or pedestrian flashing green interval. Moreover, the pedestrian entry speeds were significantly affected by the pedestrian signal indications. Furthermore, the crossing speeds were positively correlated with crosswalk length for pedestrians crossing on green and red indications while pedestrian exit speeds were independent of crosswalk length but significantly affected by crossing direction. 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Qatar National Research Fund, Qatar FoundationScopu

Investigation of Distracted Pedestrians' Exposure Duration at Signalized and Unsignalized Pedestrian Crossings: A Bayesian Modeling Approach

During the last decades, distraction caused by mobile phones has created concerns about pedestrians' safety, especially while crossing a road. The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors that have an effect on the crossing duration of pedestrians, distracted by mobile phone use, at both signalized and unsignalized crossings. Pedestrians with mobile phones were observed during crossing the aforementioned types of crossings in Thessaloniki, Greece, while their crossing duration was further examined via the development of Bayesian regression models, one for unsignalized and one for signalized crossings. For the research purposes, 554 pedestrians were observed at unsignalized crossings and 409 at signalized ones. The most commonly observed type of distraction was talking on the mobile phone, while texting was also found to be very common. The variables, found to be associated with crossing duration, were significantly different between unsignalized and signalized crossings. Crossing duration at unsignalized crossings seemed to be affected by the experience of a potential conflict with a motorized vehicle and the presence of additional distractors, such as the carrying of an object and the presence of company. At signalized crossings, duration tended to be influenced by the age of the pedestrian and the position before crossing. Current research contributes in understanding and modeling distracted pedestrians' behavior when crossing streets

Pedestrian behaviour at unsignalized zebra crossing : A case study in UMP Gambang campus

The interest toward promoting walking culture has been increased dramatically especially in many cities across the nation. This is also included universities worldwide that have started seeking ways to increase pedestrian activities. Hence, campus planners must address the mobility and accessibility needs of pedestrian in their communities to ensure safety, functionality and conducive living and learning environment. This study was conducted to evaluate the pedestrian perception and behaviour towards the unsignalized zebra crossing in campus environment. To achieve the objective of this study, the unsignalized zebra crossing in UMP Gambang campus was selected as study location. This study was conducted using a quantitative study by means of questionnaires distribution and pedestrian movement data collection. Then Average Index Method was performed to indicate the pedestrian perception towards the crossing facility performances. The result shows that the zebra crossing was efficient and safe from the respondent's perspective. Other than that, gender and platoon significantly influenced the crossing speeds. The outcomes from this study were hoped to bring some understanding to the university on the pedestrian's behaviour for future planning and pedestrian safety

Modelling the Pedestrian Speed at Signalised Intersection Crosswalks for Heterogeneous Traffic Conditions

Pedestrian crossing speed is the key element in the design of pedestrian facilities. It depends on various attributes related to road, traffic and pedestrians. In this paper, an attempt has been made to explore the variation, examine the influencing factors and formulate a model for the pedestrian crossing speed at signalised intersection crosswalks. The data have been collected using video graphic technique at 16 signalised crosswalks of the Chandigarh city. The findings reveal that a 15th percentile crossing speed (1.11-1.31 m/s) exceeds the design crossing speed of 0.95 m/s. It is also higher than the crossing speed of 1.2 m/s, usually being prescribed and adopted in the developed countries. The statistical analysis indicates no significant difference in the percentile crossing speeds between males and females. However, the variation exists among different age groups, group sizes, and crossing patterns. The correlation analysis depicts that the pedestrian crossing speed has significant negative correlation with the crosswalk width, the crosswalk length, the width of the pedestrian island, the classification of road, average traffic flow and average pedestrian delay, whereas the availability of separate bicycle paths at intersections is positively correlated. Furthermore, the stepwise regression model with 70.1 percent accuracy reveals that the crosswalk width, the width of the pedestrian island and the average pedestrian delay play a predominant role in determining the pedestrian crossing speed. The authors propose the usage of the developed model for setting out the standards for the appropriate design crossing speed for different crosswalks having similar geometric and traffic conditions as that of the study area.</p

Pedestrians' Crossing Behavior at Marked Crosswalks on Channelized Right-Turn Lanes at Intersections

Unsignalized marked crosswalks are problematic locations from pedestrians' safety perspective. Although the priority rule at such locations is clear; pedestrians have the absolute right of way over vehicles, driver often compete with pedestrians over the right of way which risks pedestrian safety and impose extra delays on pedestrians. In developing countries, as concluded in many previous studies, vehicles usually do not give right of way to pedestrians, leaving them with the only choice to wait until an accepted gap is available. In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries where vehicles are the predominant mode of travel, pedestrians are receiving lesser priority. Drivers usually hijack the right of way from pedestrians which often causes safety threats. Therefore, pedestrians loose the reason for crossing at these designed locations pushing them to cross at arbitrary locations increasing their safety risk. This paper investigates influencing factors on the crossing behavior of pedestrians at marked crosswalks located on dedicated right-turn lanes. A study site from Doha, Qatar was selected for video recording and data analysis. A sample of 235 pedestrian observations was used for waiting behavior, crossing speed, accepted gaps, and driver yielding behavior analysis. The results showed that the waiting behavior was independent of pedestrian characteristics and relied only on the traffic characteristics. In addition, the average crossing speed was 1.43m/s and the gender, distraction, and group significantly affected the crossing speed. Beside, the distracted pedestrians and pedestrians crossing in groups accepted significantly larger gaps compared to undistracted and individual pedestrians. Moreover, about 15% of drivers yielded for pedestrians, yielding was irrespective of gender and mainly affected by the crossing direction. Consequently, innovative strategies in terms of engineering measures and awareness are needed to improve pedestrian safety at these locations. � 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.Scopu

Evaluation of Setback Crosswalk to Mitigate Vehicle-Pedestrian Conflicts at Intersections

It is considered best practice when designing pedestrian access at intersections to provide two curb ramps at each street corner. In Oregon, there are many locations where long ramp runs cause curb ramps to be set back a significant distance from the apex of the intersection corner to meet this standard. Debate exists in the transportation community related to the safety of setback crosswalks. However, assumptions that setback crosswalks are less safe or safer are not based on empirical evidence. Previous research has focused on the impacts of intersection characteristics on intersection safety but there is a clear gap on the safety effects of setback crosswalks. Therefore, this research investigates the relationship between the setback crosswalks and intersection safety with the consideration of other intersection characteristics using a driving simulator. An experiment with 50 participants was conducted using the OSU Passenger Car Driving Simulator to study driver behaviors while approaching and turning at 24 virtual intersections with various combinations of experimental factors. Time-space measurements were used to study participants’ stop line speed, turning speed, and stopping position. Increasing crosswalk setback was found to reduce the probability of yielding, where higher speeds were observed. Also, a proportional relationship between turning speed and curb radii was found. Eye movement data were used to examine participants’ visual attention on the traffic signals, crosswalk placement, and pedestrians. Participants looked at the traffic signal more and allocated slightly more visual attention towards the crosswalk in scenarios with a setback crosswalk. Participants tend to look at the pedestrian less in the setback crosswalk configuration. Galvanic Skin Response of participants indicate their level of stress during the experiment. Higher stresses were found in scenarios without pedestrian and with larger radii. The research results provide valuable findings for transportation practitioners to consider when designing or reconstructing the intersections with setback crosswalks

Conductas y decisiones de cruce de los peatones en los alrededores de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

De manera similar a otros países en vías de desarrollo, en el Perú, la inseguridad vial es una de las mayores causas de mortalidad. La organización mundial de la salud (OMS) indicó, en el Global status report on road safety 2018, que esta es la principal causa de muerte para niños y jóvenes adultos (entre 5 a 29 años). Sin embargo, el enfoque actual respecto a una de las variables más influyentes en la interacción vehículo-peatón, el comportamiento de cruce, se atribuye netamente a factores humanos. La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar las actitudes y percepciones que tienen los peatones frente a las facilidades de cruces existentes (cruceros semaforizados, no semaforizados y puentes peatonales) alrededor de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Se identificaron los principales factores (variables individuales y latentes) que influyen en las conductas y decisiones de cruce de los peatones y se evaluó la efectividad de las medidas regulatorias actuales. La metodología consistió en realizar encuestas a los usuarios de la PUCP con un tamaño de muestra de 404 personas y observación directa en los cruces aledaños seleccionados en dos turnos por cruce correspondientes a los horarios de mayor ingreso y salida de alumnos de la universidad (de 7:45 a 8:45 a.m. y de 12:30 a 13:30 p.m.). Luego de obtener los datos, se utilizó el software estadístico IBM SPSS Statistics 25 para realizar pruebas chi cuadrado y determinar con 95% de confianza la significancia y el tamaño del efecto de cada variable. Los resultados de la investigación reflejan la baja tasa del conocimiento de las medidas regulatorias en los usuarios aun cuando estos opinan que sí las conocen. También, se denota el efecto que tiene este desconocimiento, junto a la sensación de impunidad y baja frecuencia de aplicación de las medidas, en el comportamiento peatonal. Además, se determinó que el género y la edad fueron significativos en la percepción de seguridad de los peatones y que; la disminución del flujo vehicular, el aumento del flujo peatonal y el cambio del motivo de viaje generaron un comportamiento más agresivo en los peatones.Tesi

Safest Placement for Crosswalks at Intersections

This research studied the relationship between crosswalk setback and intersection safety. The study included field-based and driving simulator experiments. Video data was collected at 10 crosswalks in Oregon to examine the frequency pedestrian-vehicle conflicts (measured using PET), including how these conflicts vary between corner and setback crosswalks. A total of 507 pedestrians and 47 conflicts with post-encroachment times of less than 5 seconds were observed. The 50 participants driving simulator experiment was used to determine how setback distances, curb radii, and presence of pedestrians affect driver stopping decision and position, speed choice, visual attention, and level of stress. Observations of drivers\u2019 speed in a similar scenario were taken from field and simulator data to enhance the evidence provided by each experiment. Stop line speeds were found to be consistent between experiments and turning speeds were found to be slightly higher in the driving simulator experiment. The study results suggest that curb radius should be smaller to control driver speed. Additionally, setback distance of the crosswalk of 20ft is a suitable upper bound when reconstructing intersections