Virtual Scenarios for Pedestrian Research: A Matter of Complexity? In: Chen JYC, Fragomeni G, editors. Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. Design and Interaction. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2020. pp. 171-90. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-49695-1_12]

Pedestrian Crossing Decisions in Virtual Environments: Behavioral Validity in CAVEs and Head-Mounted Displays

OBJECTIVE

To contribute to the validation of virtual reality (VR) as a tool for analyzing pedestrian behavior, we compared two types of high-fidelity pedestrian simulators to a test track.

BACKGROUND

While VR has become a popular tool in pedestrian research, it is uncertain to what extent simulator studies evoke the same behavior as nonvirtual environments.

METHOD

An identical experimental procedure was replicated in a CAVE automatic virtual environment (CAVE), a head-mounted display (HMD), and on a test track. In each group, 30 participants were instructed to step forward whenever they felt the gap between two approaching vehicles was adequate for crossing.

RESULTS

Our analyses revealed distinct effects for the three environments. Overall acceptance was highest on the test track. In both simulators, crossings were initiated later, but a relationship between gap size and crossing initiation was apparent only in the CAVE. In contrast to the test track, vehicle speed significantly affected acceptance rates and safety margins in both simulators.

CONCLUSION

For a common decision task, the results obtained in virtual environments deviate from those in a nonvirtual test bed. The consistency of differences indicates that restrictions apply when predicting real-world behavior based on VR studies. In particular, the higher susceptibility to speed effects warrants further investigation, since it implies that differences in perceptual processing alter experimental outcomes.

APPLICATION

Our observations should inform the conclusions drawn from future research in pedestrian simulators, for example by accounting for a higher sensitivity to speed variations and a greater uncertainty associated with crossing decisions.

Prevalence and dynamics of distracted pedestrian behaviour at railway level crossings: Emerging issues

Recent increases in pedestrian collisions have led to several studies investigating the effects of distraction on pedestrian behaviour at road intersections. Although distraction has been identified as a contributing factor to pedestrian crashes at railway crossings, only limited research is available regarding the prevalence of this behaviour occurring at railway level crossings. It is, therefore, essential to better understand distraction prevalence at railway crossings to support the use of countermeasures to improve safety outcomes. We conducted field observations at a railway crossing in Brisbane, Australia and its adjacent road intersection to gauge the prevalence of distracted pedestrians. Overall, 585 pedestrians were observed and video recorded during the daytime. The video recordings were coded to estimate the prevalence of distraction behaviour that road users engaged in, factors that affected these proportions, and dynamic changes in behaviour. Compliance with signals was also analysed. We found distraction behaviours such as talking and looking at the mobile screen (41.9%) while walking to be prevalent and affected by age. Highly distractive tasks were found to be less commonplace at the railway crossing, accounting for 3% of the observations. Still, pedestrians at the railway crossing engaged in these highly distractive tasks on their phones for a much longer period of time. While most non-compliances (with traffic lights) occurred among attentive pedestrians and are likely to be intentional, non-compliances by distracted pedestrians were also observed, highlighting that distraction can lead to unsafe decisions or lack of decisions that result in unsafe behaviours. Finally, distraction was found to be a dynamic phenomenon as a few pedestrians stopped engaging in distractive tasks once they reached the crossing, while others engaged in more distractive tasks once they were on the road or crossing. Our study shows that pedestrian distraction is a prevalent issue at railway crossings and future research is required to further understand and mitigate this changing behaviour.