Factors affecting pedestrian behaviors at signalized crosswalks: An empirical study

The attentional guidance and facilitating effects of group behavioral cues on individual college pedestrians' jaywalking decisions

OBJECTIVE

Jaywalking is an important cause of pedestrian-related automobile accidents. Exploring the factors that influence jaywalking behavior and suggesting appropriate improvement measures are critical for reducing automobile accidents involving pedestrians.

METHODS

This study divided traffic situations into high-risk and low-risk situations. Each situation contained three visual attention cues: vehicle, traffic light, and group behavior. Based on this, the role of visual cues in guiding pedestrians' attention and influencing their decisions during jaywalking was examined. Sixty participants, with an average age of 19, were recruited. They were shown 84 crosswalk videos randomly while their crossing decisions and eye movement data were recorded.

RESULTS

In low-risk situations, pedestrians spent more attention on group behavioral cues when making jaywalking decisions. The rate of jaywalking increased with the number of other jaywalking pedestrians. In high-risk situations, the pedestrians' total fixation duration at vehicle hazard cues was longer when making jaywalking decisions, and the jaywalking rate decreased.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that pedestrians' jaywalking decisions were based on other pedestrians' illegal crossing cues and automatic associative processes in low-risk situations. The higher the number of people crossing the street, the higher the number of pedestrians illegally crossing the road. In high-risk situations, pedestrians paid more attention to vehicle hazard cues before making jaywalking decisions, and fewer illegal crossings. The jaywalking decisions were based on a risk assessment, a controlled analytical process. The results verify the effect of visual cues on pedestrians' attentional guidance and decision-making in different traffic situations, as well as the effectiveness of visual attention in predicting decision intention. The findings provide a theoretical basis and data reference for pedestrian safety education and constructing an intelligent driving pedestrian trajectory prediction model.

Gender differences in pedestrian hazard perception: evidence from an event-related potential study

OBJECTIVE

Gender differences in pedestrian hazard perception were investigated using the event-related potential technique.

METHODS

The study utilized images of two types of real traffic situations as test materials: hazard situations and nonhazard situations. The presence of hazards in the displayed situations was determined by 30 adult subjects (including 17 females), who indicated their observations by pressing a button.

RESULTS

The results revealed that females exhibited a shorter N1 latency in hazard situations, while males exhibited a larger P3 amplitude compared to females.

CONCLUSION

These results indicate that females are more sensitive to hazard situations during the early visual processing stage, while males give more attention to traffic situations during the late attention allocation stage.

Investigating the behavior of pedestrians and related factors in northern Iran in 2021

Among all road users, pedestrian behavior is most unpredictable, and our knowledge of pedestrian behavior and compliance in northern Iran is limited. The aim of the study was to determine the self-reporting behavior of pedestrians and related factors in northern Iran in 2021. This cross-sectional study's research tool included demographic characteristics, social characteristics, and a pedestrian behavior questionnaire (PBS - 43 questions). Data collection was randomly performed in 30 different passages around Rasht (a city in the north of Iran). We used the Poisson regression model and statistical software STATA version 15 for data analysis. With increasing age, pedestrians showed better crossing behavior (p < 0.001, β = 0.202), and the behavior of female pedestrians was better than that of male pedestrians (p < 0.001, β -4.79). As pedestrians, those with private jobs had worse crossing behavior than others (p < 0.045, β = 9.380), and those pedestrians who mentioned they were motorcyclists before had worse crossing behavior than others (p < 0.045, β = 9.380). The findings of this study can be used to establish pedestrian safety and preventative planning. In behavior change intervention programs, it is best to target young male pedestrians aiming to walk to their workplace, a private business. In addition, the behavior of pedestrians whose predominant means of transportation is the motorcycle must be corrected. It is necessary to conduct information campaigns and educational programs for pedestrians with common high-risk behaviors, especially errors and violations.

Pedestrians' unsafe road-crossing behaviors in Iran: An observational-based study in West Azerbaijan

OBJECTIVE

Pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable users in road traffic injuries (RTIs). The rate of pedestrians' fatality is high in Iran. It is worthwhile to investigate how pedestrians behave. This observational study aimed to investigate pedestrians' unsafe behaviors while crossing.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study examined the behavior of 1095 pedestrians (69.7% men) using videotaping when they crossed at two intersections and three non-intersections on a weekend and two working days in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. The information obtained was classified into 5 domains including adherence to traffic rule, violation, environmental barriers, visibility, and distraction. Data were analyzed using Stata version 17.

RESULTS

About 60% of the pedestrians ignored the crosswalk and crossed the street wherever they wanted. More than 30% ignored the vehicles passing and crossed the street inattentively. About 60% of the pedestrians committed violations. More than half of pedestrians crossed unsafe crossings diagonally or in a hurry. More than 35% wore dark clothing and had low visibility, and nearly 30% were distracted. Adolescent pedestrians did not adhere traffic rules about 6 times more than the young adult pedestrians. Pedestrians who did not adhere to traffic rules in the morning were significantly more than in the evening. Men committed a violation 1.47 times more than women. The results showed that the pedestrians committed a violation in the morning significantly more than in the evening.

CONCLUSION

The occurrence of pedestrians' unsafe behaviors in Maku was high. Unsafe behaviors were high among men and young adult pedestrians. Therefore, it's essential to implement educational interventions via different media as well as environmental interventions by different organizations to improve safe behavior among pedestrians.

Investigation of intervention methods based on different leading roles in family regarding child road safety education: An experimental study

Children are vulnerable to traffic injuries due to their low hazard perception. Previous studies have indicated that both parents and children have potential leading roles in safety education within the family. However, the effects of different leading roles (parents or children) on the hazard perception of children have not yet been revealed, and interactive education with children in the leading roles could also be an important means to enhance children's road safety. To fill this gap, based on constructivism theory and the Feynman learning method, this study proposed two methods of enhancing children's hazard perception based on different leading roles in the family regarding child road safety education and investigated the effectiveness of the above intervention methods. Thirty sets of parents and children participated in this experiment and were divided into three groups. The children received one of three different road safety interventions: a constructivism intervention, a parental guidance intervention or a children's Feynman learning intervention. Compared with the constructivism intervention, the hazard perception of children who received road safety educations within the family were significantly improved; these children were more sensitive to potential traffic hazard factors and presented better visual search patterns. A comparative analysis showed that the two educational interventions based on different leading roles in the family regarding child road safety education were not identical with respect to effectiveness. The children's Feynman learning intervention had a more significant effect than the parental guidance intervention. The findings of this study provide insightful information for safety education researchers, governments, educators and families with children.

Characterization of Pedestrian Crossing Spatial Violations and Safety Impact Analysis in Advance Right-Turn Lane

In view of the pedestrian space violation in an advance right-turn lane, the pedestrian crossing paths are divided by collecting the temporal and spatial information of pedestrians and motor vehicles, and the characteristics of different pedestrian crossing behaviors are studied. Combined with the time and speed indicators of conflict severity, the K-means method is used to divide the level of conflict severity. A multivariate ordered logistic regression model of the severity of pedestrian-vehicle conflict was constructed to quantify the effects of different factors on the severity of the pedestrian-vehicle conflict. The study of 1388 pedestrians and the resulting pedestrian-vehicle conflicts found that the type of spatial violation has a significant impact on pedestrian crossing behavior and safety. The average crossing speed and acceleration variation values of spatially violated pedestrians were significantly higher than those of other pedestrians; there is a significant increase in the severity of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts in areas close to the oncoming traffic; the average percentage of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts due to spatial violations increased by 12%, and the percentage of serious conflicts due to each type of spatial violation increased from 18% to 87%, 74%, 30%, and 63%, respectively, compared with those of non-violated pedestrians. In addition, the decrease in the number of lanes and the increase in speed and vehicle reach all lead to an increase in the severity of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. The results of the study will help traffic authorities to take measures to ensure pedestrian crossing safety.

Pedestrian Safety at Midblock Crossings on Dual Carriageway Roads in Polish Cities

Road crossings across two or more lanes in one direction are particularly dangerous due to limited sight distance and high vehicle speeds. To improve their safety, road authorities should provide safety treatments. These may include additional measures to reduce speed and narrow the road cross-section and the introduction of active pedestrian crossings. Equipped with flashing lights activated automatically when a pedestrian is detected, the crossings are painted red and have an anti-skid surface on approaches. The article presents an analysis of road user behaviour at pedestrian crossings on dual carriageways with a varying provision of road safety measures in some Polish cities. It also evaluates the effectiveness of the measures over time. The study was conducted before, immediately after and one year after the additional signage was introduced. The evaluation is based on how vehicle speeds changed before the pedestrian crossing, how pedestrians behaved versus the vehicle and their readiness to cross the street. The number of conflicts on selected crossings was also evaluated. The safety treatments under analysis were found to be less effective than the traditional pedestrian safety measures such as speed cushions or roads narrowed to one lane. This suggests that if used on dual carriageways the measures should only be temporary and should ultimately be replaced with traffic lights or a grade separated solution (a footbridge or tunnel) on exits from urban areas. No clear-cut conclusions about pedestrian safety can be drawn based on the traffic conflicts in question. The article is divided into the following sections: introduction with a review of the literature on pedestrian and driver behaviour studies at pedestrian crossings, including midblock crossings and dual carriageways; a description of the research method and test sites, the results, discussion of the results and conclusion.

Child-Pedestrian Traffic Safety at Crosswalks—Literature Review

Child pedestrians make up 30% of the total number of children injured in road traffic in the EU. They are a particularly vulnerable subgroup because they exhibit specific traffic behavior related to cognitive and physical development, sociodemographic characteristics, and environmental conditions. This paper provides an overview of research of parameters that affect the safety of children in the conflict zones of the intersection—crosswalks. The overview was undertaken targeting available research mostly conducted in the last 10 years all over the world, related to the identification of parameters that affect the safety of child-pedestrians, and models developed for the prediction of pedestrian and child-pedestrian behavior. Research conducted on various urban networks provides insight into locally and more widely applicable impact parameters connected to child characteristics and infrastructural and traffic elements, but also distractors (e.g., electronic devices) as new phenomena influencing children’s road safety. A review of pedestrian behavior-prediction models suggests that models are being developed for the general population, and models for children’s behavior, with specific parameters, are missing. For further research, more detailed analysis of the impact of distractors and of COVID–19 pandemic non-mobility, as well as an analysis of possible infrastructural solutions to increase children’s road traffic safety, is suggested.

Assessment of the Influence of Road Infrastructure Parameters on the Behaviour of Drivers and Pedestrians in Pedestrian Crossing Areas

Pedestrians are participants and, most likely, fatalities in every third road traffic accident in Poland. Over 30% of all fatalities on Polish roads are pedestrians. Accidents with pedestrians are very often the result of various factors related to the infrastructure and behaviour of pedestrians and drivers. The objective of the work was to assess driver and pedestrian behaviour in pedestrian crossing areas. The research also served as a pilot study for similar work to be conducted across Poland, and constituted the basis for monitoring the behaviour of road users in the area of pedestrian crossings. Parameters which must be analysed were identified on the basis of field studies. Principles of selecting test sites were adopted, and measurement methods for pedestrian crossing areas are presented. The influence of the location of the selected test cross-section infrastructure parameters on the behaviour of road users in pedestrian crossing areas is demonstrated. The results of the study will be used as a basis for new solutions involving pedestrian crossing infrastructure designed to improve pedestrian safety. The results were also used in formulating new regulations for the design and maintenance of pedestrian crossings and recommendations for road safety auditors.