Citation

Zhang Y, Fricker JD. Transp. Res. F Traffic Psychol. Behav. 2021; 76: 92-108.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trf.2020.11.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

"Semi-controlled" crosswalks are unsignalized, but have clear pavement markings and "yield to pedestrian" signs. At these locations, pedestrians and motorists frequently interact to determine who should proceed first. When interacting with drivers, pedestrian crossing decisions are complex events that involve a variety of human responses, as well as vehicle dynamics, traffic characteristics, and environmental conditions. In addition, these complexities can be subject to temporal effects. Without considering temporal variations in pedestrian-motorist interaction, statistical methods could lead to biased coefficient estimates and inaccurate conclusions. The study developed a Bayesian multilevel logistic regression (BMLR) model to capture heterogeneities in pedestrian interaction behavior during four different time periods. The proposed method incorporates time-specific effects that vary randomly between time-periods based on a weakly informative prior. The results indicate significant factors, some of which confirm previous research and some that are new ways to explain pedestrian behavior at the individual level. The identification of variables such as FlowOn and FlowWait sheds light on the interactions between pedestrians - providing more information than the single GroupSize measure. Some consequent safety implications are discussed from the perspectives of vehicle dynamics, vehicle flow rate and pedestrian volume. The more detailed metrics developed in this paper will provide a valuable starting point. for the design of crosswalk controls that will foster a higher degree of compliance and less delay.

Language: en

Keywords

Bayesian Logistic Regression; Pedestrian Behavior; Semi-Controlled Crosswalks; Temporal Heterogeneity