Effect of pedestrian characteristics and their road crossing behaviors on driver yielding behavior at controlled intersections

INTRODUCTION

Globally, pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable road-user groups. Their vulnerability increases while crossing the road at controlled intersections during the "don't walk" phase. Previous literature shows that driver yielding behavior has an association with pedestrian safety at intersections. Though several studies have explored driver yielding behavior towards pedestrians at conflict points, evidence on how pedestrian actions influence driver yielding behavior at intersections is yet to be investigated.

METHOD

To pursue this end, a binary logistic regression model was developed using the collected data to explore the effect of non-compliant pedestrian characteristics and their road crossing behavior on driver yielding behavior towards pedestrians at six controlled intersections of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The data were collected through videography survey.

RESULTS

Results showed that drivers were more likely to yield to pedestrians who were female, crossing in a group, carrying baggage, not using a mobile, making some hand gesture to the driver, or crossing by rolling gap strategy.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

These findings add new insights for transportation planners into the complex interaction between vehicles and pedestrians at busy controlled intersections, and thus would help to make a pedestrian friendly street.

Factors influencing pedestrians' decision to cross the road by risky rolling gap crossing strategy at intersections in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Pedestrian road-crossing strategy is one of the most important pedestrian road-crossing behaviors. The safety of the pedestrians often depends on it. Among the road-crossing strategies, rolling gap crossing strategy is the riskiest one. The objective of this research was to explore the factors that influenced pedestrians' decision to cross the road by rolling gap crossing at intersection. Data regarding road-crossing strategy of the pedestrians, their characteristics, their road-crossing behavior, intersection geometry, and traffic environmental condition were collected through videography survey method, on-site observation, and secondary source from six intersections of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A binary logistic regression model was developed in this study by using the collected data. Results of the developed model showed that seven statistically significant factors strongly influenced pedestrians' decision to cross the road by rolling gap crossing at intersections. These factors were intersection control type, median width, vehicle flow, available gap on the road, age group of the pedestrians, their crossing group size, and their behavior of crosswalk usage. The results of this study would help the policymakers to take proper interventions to alleviate pedestrian safety problems.