Pedestrian Safety and Street Crossing Behavior at Uncontrolled Mid-block Locations

摘要

Before crossing an uncontrolled mid-block location, a pedestrian must correctly assess the adequacy of a gap in the both-side traffic streams in order to complete his crossing safely. A tendency to reject an adequate gap can lead to unnecessary delay, while acceptance of an inadequate gap can lead to an accident with an approaching vehicle. An analysis of Japan's road accident statistics shows that the older pedestrians are often hit on the far side of the road during their crossings at mid-block locations. In this study, video cameras were used to collect variables associated with pedestrian crossing behavior at uncontrolled mid-block locations. Binary logit models were developed using 864 observations coded by video records. Logit modeling indicated that vehicular speed of approaching vehicle and the time headway between passing and approaching vehicles were the variables most reliably associated with pedestrian crossing behavior at uncontrolled mid-block locations. Time of day makes weaker contribution in pedestrian mid-block crossing behavior. In addition, the findings from this study show that the ability to cross the road efficiently becomes more difficult as age increases.