Comparative Study of Pedestrian Crossing Behaviour at Uncontrolled Intersection and Midblock Locations
Lalam Govinda, Dodappaneni Abhigna, Parvathy M Nair, K. V. R. Ravishankar
Abstract
Understanding pedestrian-vehicular interaction and individual’s responsive behaviour under mixed traffic flow condition is a complex task. Individual’s perception and risk taking to cross the road varies with pedestrian characteristics (age, gender, luggage, and trip purpose), environmental characteristics, vehicular flow characteristics, land use type. The present study made a comparison of average pedestrian crossing speeds at different pedestrian crossing locations in medium size cities (Warangal and Thiruvananthapuram in India) under mixed traffic conditions to investigate the major factors affecting the pedestrian road crossing behaviour. Four hours of traffic data was collected using videography method from three uncontrolled intersections and two midblock locations. Significant test was done for crossing speeds between different locations and different pedestrian types. The statistical results showed that there is a significant difference between the crossing speed of midblock and intersection. Male and middle aged pedestrians have higher crossing speeds than female and young, old aged pedestrians respectively. It is concluded that the pedestrian crossing behaviour and their perception in risk taking varies with location, pedestrian’s characteristics. Simulation results showed that the average travel time delay changed with pedestrian age and gender and increased linearly with the pedestrian volume. The results can be used to understand pedestrian risk with vehicular flow.