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Walking is a major mode of transportation in developing countries where most road users are pedestrians who spend significant time on roads and using the road system. Walking almost inevitably involves crossing a road, where the chances of conflict between pedestrian and motor vehicle is much higher. In Dhaka, the capital of a developing country Bangladesh, pedestrians increase their accident risk when they decide to cross the road way without using the road crossing facilities. When a relatively unsafe choice is made, the pedestrian increases his accident risk and faces casualties. However, in Dhaka, it was not explored in the past about what percentage of people cross the road by pedestrian foot over bridge/ underpass or by jaywalking. Therefore, It is found that 40.2% of the pedestrians do not use road crossing facilities and 71% pedestrians prefer underpass rather than using foot over bridge. The reasons pedestrians are not using road crossing facilities are insufficient security, time consuming, poor entrance, hawker’s problem, discomfort, takes a long walk etc. To improve this situation several steps should be taken, such as: Enhance lighting facilities, prohibit commercial activities, adequate usage of roadside and median barrier, construct more underpass rather than foot over bridge etc.
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73:4 (2015) 7783 | www.jurnalteknologi.utm.my | eISSN 21803722
Full paper
Jurnal
Teknologi
Pedestrian’s Behaviour on Road Crossing Facilities
Md. Mosabbir Pasha*, Dr. Shakil Mohammad Rifaat, Abul Hasnat, Istiakur Rahman
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Islamic University of Technology, Bangladesh
*Corresponding author: mosabbir@iut-dhaka.edu
Article history
Received: 5 September 2014
Received in revised form:
3 December 2014
Accepted 3 January 2015
Abstract
Walking is a major mode of transportation in developing countries where most road users are pedestrians
who spend significant time on roads and using the road system. Walking almost inevitably involves crossing
a road, where the chances of conflict between pedestrian and motor vehicle is much higher. In Dhaka, the
capital of a developing country Bangladesh, pedestrians increase their accident risk when they decide to
cross the road way without using the road crossing facilities. When a relatively unsafe choice is made, the
pedestrian increases his accident risk and faces casualties. However, in Dhaka, it was not explored in the
past about what percentage of people cross the road by pedestrian foot over bridge/ underpass or by
jaywalking. Therefore, It is found that 40.2% of the pedestrians do not use road crossing facilities and 71%
pedestrians prefer underpass rather than using foot over bridge. The reasons pedestrians are not using road
crossing facilities are insufficient security, time consuming, poor entrance, hawker’s problem, discomfort,
takes a long walk etc. To improve this situation several steps should be taken, such as: Enhance lighting
facilities, prohibit commercial activities, adequate usage of roadside and median barrier, construct more
underpass rather than foot over bridge etc.
Keywords: Walking; pedestrian; risk; safety; jaywalking.
© 2015 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved
1.0 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Walking, the simplest form of transportation has many benefits for
pedestrians and the society. Yet, pedestrians are a vulnerable group
of people and safety concerns are a significant barrier in one's
decision to walk [1]. With over 500 million cars and trucks in use,
the World Health Organization WHO reported that the world loses
over 1.2 million people annually and 50 million are injured because
of motor vehicle crashes. The estimated economic loss is more than
US$ 500 billion [2]. If explored in depth these statistics surely
reveal that a significant portion of economic loss and life loss are
associated with pedestrian involvement in crashes.
Bangladesh is one of the densely populated countries in the
world. It has a land size of 147,570 square km with a population
density of 1015 peoples per square km and population growth is
1.37 per annum. On the other hand Dhaka, the capital city of
Bangladesh has the population density approximately 10 times
higher than the overall population density of the country which is
8229 peoples per square km [3]. According to Dhaka Transport Co-
ordination Authority (DTCA) (2013) at present in Dhaka city more
than 15 million people are living and everyday this huge number of
peoples causes around 25 million daily trips by using several modes
of transport.
Among the various modes seen in Dhaka, walking is one of
the main modes of transport, with 60% of trips made by foot and
only 4% by car [4]. It is because 76% of all trips are under 5 km,
and 50% under 2 km [5], which makes walking is a convenient
mode of transport. As large numbers of people are pedestrian and
they are exposed to traffic, pedestrian risks are increasing day by
day.
If we look into statistics, the risk for the pedestrian can be
understood. According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority
from 1999 to 2008, a total of 35,105 accidents occurred in
Bangladesh. In these 10 years, 13,516 pedestrians were killed in
traffic crashes in Bangladesh, representing 53% of all the people
that died in traffic crashes. Among 13,516 pedestrian fatalities,
3156 i.e. 24% happened in 4 metropolitan cities. In a particular
year, for example in 2008 in Dhaka city, 281 pedestrians died from
injuries suffered in collisions with motor vehicles which accounts
for 72% of all road users’ fatalities there. Also in 2008, 20%
pedestrian fatalities of the country occurred only in Dhaka city [6].
Another statistics showed that 80% pedestrian fatalities of the 4
major cities occurred only in Dhaka City [7].
Bangladesh Police HQ conducted some road accident survey
from 1993 to 2000 in Bangladesh. They reported 45,616 casualties
during these 8 years. They showed that pedestrians are involved in
about 70% of road accidents [8].
All the statistics clearly demonstrate that pedestrians are the
most vulnerable road users in Bangladesh. One of the reasons is
that most of the pedestrians are not well educated and also unaware
of traffic rules. Sometimes the pedestrian do not use the facilities
provided for them to cross the road (i.e., overpass or underpass) due
to several reasons such as, height of the structures, installed on
improper locations, vendor problem, time consuming etc. Some of
the facilities are not well designed so that pedestrians are
discouraged to use it. Perhaps because of these reasons, a
significant number of pedestrians are often observed in jay walking
to cross the road. . In a survey interviewing pedestrians, it has been
found that the majority of the pedestrians prefer to cross on level
ground and medians, with females and younger pedestrians willing
to use non-level crossings [9]. For this reason pedestrians become
more vulnerable and do faults when crossing the roads. In an
investigation results show that pedestrians are found at fault in 59%
of the crashes, drivers in 32%, and both are found at fault in 9%
29%
71%
Demand of crossing facilities
FOB
Under pass
78 Md. Mosabbir Pasha et al. / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 73:4 (2015) 7783
[10]. Also when crossing the level ground the waiting time may
increase and this affects the crossing behavior of the pedestrians.
Hamed (2010) studied the factors that influence a pedestrian’s
waiting time and frequency of attempts to cross streets. He found
that pedestrians’ expected waiting time has profound influence on
the number of attempts needed to successfully cross the street.
Hamed (2010) established that pedestrians who spend more time
waiting to cross from one side of the street to the median are likely
to have a higher risk of ending the waiting time than when they
cross from central refuge to the other side of the street [11]. In
another study, it was found that as signal waiting time increases,
pedestrians get impatient and violate traffic signal indications
which increases the risk of being struck by a motor vehicle [12].
Studies generally point out male pedestrians as those most
frequently involved in pedestrian crashes and elderly and children
as the most vulnerable pedestrians [13].
Location of pedestrian crossing facilities also plays an
important role of crash occurrences and crash related injuries. The
severity of the crashes increases in non-junction crosswalks
because the pedestrians always do hurry to cross the roads to save
time. So, they always cross the road in level ground instead of using
underpass and foot over bridge. In Israel a detailed analysis of
pedestrian accidents in 20062007, with an emphasis on the
infrastructure characteristics involved, was performed; it was found
that 75% of the fatalities and 95% of the injuries occurred in urban
areas, the majority of cases occurring on road sections (not at
junctions). About 80% of the accidents took place when a
pedestrian crossed the road, the majority of them at non-crosswalk
locations or at non-signalized crosswalks [14]. In another study it
has been found approximately 38.2% of the crashes occur at
crosswalk locations, while proportionately more (61.8%) of the
pedestrian accidents occur at non-crosswalk locations [15].
However, it is hypothesized that if enough road crossing
facilities are provided, the interaction between pedestrian and
vehicle would be less and pedestrian risk of involving in crashes
may be minimized. All the reasons discussed above of not using
pedestrian crossing facilities and the effect of pedestrian crossing
locations have been extracted from different studies which were
performed in different contexts. In Bangladesh, very few
researches have been conducted on pedestrians’ behavior, more
specifically, if there any on the usage of road crossing facilities. For
this reason, it has not been sorted out yet why the significant
numbers of pedestrians do jaywalking while crossing the roads.
The aim of this paper is to find out the pedestrians’ perception
on using road crossing facilities in Dhaka. This might be helpful to
develop a safe pedestrian environment and will reduce casualties.
For this purpose, the study is divided into two parts. In first part,
the present scenario of the utilization of road crossing facilities is
explored by taking real time data on several locations in Dhaka. In
the second part of the study, a questionnaire survey has been
prepared to examine the pedestrian perception on this issue.
Particularly, the analysis from the survey data will reveal the
measures needed to be taken to increase the usage of road crossing
facilities. It is expected that the results of this study could lead to
better understanding of pedestrian crossing behavior in Dhaka and
support policy makers in their decision making regarding the
improvement of road crossing facilities in Dhaka city.
2.0 PRESENT SCENARIO OF ROAD CROSSING
FACILITIES IN DHAKA CITY
According to Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) (2013) at
present in Dhaka city there are total 34 foot over bridges (FOBs)
and 4 under passes. Among them 19 are steel made and another 15
are Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) Structures. The four under
passes are also RCC structures.
To observe the present situation 17 road crossing facilities in
different location were visited. The conditions of the facilities were
not good. In most of the places the entrance to the facilities were
blocked by vendors, so that it was very tough for the pedestrians to
use the facilities. Some of the foot over bridges were occupied by
hawkers, so that not enough space is available for the pedestrians
to walk safe and conveniently. Almost all foot over bridges (FOBs)
and underpasses were very dirty and some people throw waste on
them.
At night time the road crossing facilities become unusable
because of insufficient lighting facilities. Sometimes unwanted
incident occurs (such as, hijacking) due to the lack of security
personnel. Also at night time the number of traffic reduces, for this
reason pedestrians are more encouraged to cross the road without
using the road crossing facilities.
An investigation was done to observe the percentage of
pedestrians who use the road crossing facilities and those who do
not. This investigation was limited to only 7 road crossing facilities
due to time and manpower constraints. They are situated at
different locations of Dhaka city so they are representative of
crossing facilities in Dhaka City.
For example, Farmgate area is a commercial zone with
activities such as cinema hall, bus terminals and students tutoring
centers. It is one of the busiest places in Dhaka city. New market
and Science lab are recognized as shopping zones. Karwan Bazaar
is an institutional zone where governmental and non-governmental
offices are located. Notun Bazar is an area beside the diplomatic
zone where several universities and colleges are situated. Uttara is
mostly residential area, because commercial activities in this area
are very less. Abdullahpur is one of the entry points to Dhaka city.
Figure 1 and Figure 2 shows the seven locations from where
data was collected. In each of the seven locations, data has been
taken for one hour duration. However, the time of data capture was
different for different locations due to shortage of manpower.
Though the crossing behavior of the pedestrians may vary
with the time of day, however, this issue might not play a vital role
in our study as our goal was limited to finding out the percentage
of pedestrians not using the road crossing facilities.
79 Md. Mosabbir Pasha et al. / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 73:4 (2015) 7783
Figure 1 The locations of the 4 road crossing facilities.
Figure 2 The locations of the 3 road crossing facilities.
80 Md. Mosabbir Pasha et al. / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 73:4 (2015) 7783
Figure 3 Pedestrians are crossing the busy roads without using the crossing facilities.
The numbers of pedestrians counted at the 7 road crossing
facilities are 22628. Overall 59.8% of the pedestrians were found
to be using facilities, while the remaining 40.2% of the people did
not use the pedestrian FOB/underpass. A pedestrian is considered
as a sample if the target person is within 15.24m distance in either
direction from the crossing facilities. It means if a pedestrian does
not use the crossing facilities it is considered that the pedestrians
outside the 15.24m distance, we excluded him from the
investigation.
It has been observed that in most of the locations pedestrians
are crossing the busy roads without using the crossing facilities
(Figure 3). Table 1 shows the number of pedestrians using road
crossing facilities.
Table 1 Percentage of pedestrian using crossing facilities
Location
Date
Time
Crossing facility type
Number of pedestrian
% of pedestrians not using
facilities
Using
facilities
Not using
facilities
Farmgate
22.03.13
2.00-3.00 pm
Foot Over Bridge
1588
760
32.4%
Science Lab
23.03.13
4.00-5.00 pm
Foot Over Bridge
1640
820
33.3%
New market
24.03.13
5.00-6.00 pm
Foot Over Bridge
1508
2040
57.5%
Karwan Bazar
25.03.13
6.00-7.00 pm
Underpass
1644
488
22.9%
Uttara
15.05.13
5.00-6.00 pm
Foot Over Bridge
2280
2080
47.7%
Abdullahpur
17.05.13
2.00-3.00 pm
Foot Over Bridge
2452
1612
39.7%
Notun Bazar
18.05.13
7.00-8.00 pm
Foot Over Bridge
2420
1296
34.9%
Total
13532
9096
40.2%
At Farmgate and Science Lab area the pedestrians not using
FOBs are 32.4% and 33.3% respectively. These two locations show
the lower percentage of jaywalking since median barrier is placed
at the middle of the road. Moreover, pedestrians are also confined
within the pedestrian path by road side barriers offering less chance
to cross the road illegally. It is also observed that the number of
vendors is less and space for entry is enough wide.
On the contrary, at New Market area, 57.5% pedestrians are not
using the pedestrian over bridge. In this area, though both roadside
barrier and median barrier are observed, however, these measures
are unsuccessful to resist pedestrian from jaywalking because these
structures are not working properly due to the lack of periodic
maintenance. It is also noticeable that the entrance to the foot over
bridge (FOB) is occupied by many vendors and hawkers who are
selling different goods and obstruct the access of pedestrians to use
the overpass. The scenario is same at Uttara FOB where near half
of pedestrians are not using pedestrian overpass.
Among the seven locations, we found the least percentage of
pedestrians not using the road crossing facilities in Karwan bazar
area to be 22.9%. It is noted that this is the only underpass
considered in this study. Near this location, road side barrier was
provided beside pedestrian path so that people cannot enter to the
mid-block section. However, still some pedestrians are coming out
from footpath and cross the road by the damaged portion of the
barrier. Also there was not any median barrier provided at the
middle of the road. The reasons behind the lowest percentage of
81 Md. Mosabbir Pasha et al. / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 73:4 (2015) 7783
people are not using pedestrian underpass is because there are no
hawkers; entrance is quite wide, lighting facilities are very good
and presence of beggars is less. In another survey, we have found
that 71% people prefer underpass to over FOBs. Pedestrians think
it’s less time consuming, safe, enough lighting; entrance is not
narrow and congested, less beggar and hawker problem while
comparing with those of the FOBs.
In Abdullahpur and Notun Bazaar areas percentage of people
not using the road crossing facilities were 39.7% and 34.9%
respectively. In these locations, roadside barrier was not provided
which encourages pedestrians to come out of the road very easily
and cross the road at midblock. However, comparing with New
Market and Uttara areas the percentages of not using the overpass
are still less at these two areas, perhaps, because of different road
environment condition. Continuous flow of traffic is observed near
the FOB at Abdullahpur and Notun Bazaar. On the contrary, the
scenario is reversed in Newmarket and Uttara areas, where buses
and cars are at low speeds due to adverse road conditions; this
encourages pedestrians to stop vehicles which enhance jaywalking.
Figure 4 Comparisons between Underpass and FOBs
Figure 5 Entrance of the foot over bridge and FOB’s are occupied with hawkers and beggars.
3.0 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Data Collection and Pedestrian Profile
To analyze the situation why a significant percentage of pedestrians
are not using the road crossing facilities, a questionnaire survey was
conducted among the pedestrians. A total of 300 pedestrians were
random sampled to get representative sample from the population.
The socio-economic and demographic profile of the pedestrian
sample is shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Profile of respondents (%)
Gender
Male: 72
Female: 28
Age
Below 25: 34.72
25-35: 24.44
35-45: 20.03
45-55: 18.4
Over 55: 4.4
Literacy
Illiterate: 11.8
Primary: 19.4
Secondary: 47.2
Post-Secondary: 21.52
Income
Below 12,000: 31.94
Below 25,000: 38.8
Below 35,000: 18.05
Below 50,000: 4.86
Over 50,000: 3.47
Dwelling condition
Personal: 9.72
Rental: 58.33
Slum: 20.1
Office quarter: 11.1
Others: 1.38
29%
71%
Demand of crossing facilities FOB
Under pass
82 Md. Mosabbir Pasha et al. / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 73:4 (2015) 7783
3.2 Questionnaire
A questionnaire was designed to find out the reasons for not using
the pedestrian overpass and underpass. For this purpose, 12
possible causes were identified from field investigation which
discourages pedestrians to use these facilities and promote jay
walking. The possible reasons are shown in Table3. The perception
of using road crossing facilities was assessed by a 5 point Likert
scale ranging from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree”.
For analyses, numerical scores 1 to 5 were assigned to indicate
the reason for not using road crossing facilities. For an example, if
a pedestrian answers “Strongly Agree” to the question 1 to question
12, then the minimum value will be 12 and if he answers “Strongly
Disagree”, then the maximum value will be 60. Based on the mean
value for each statement, the results are ranked to show which
factors are the prime reasons for not using pedestrian foot over
bridge or under pass.
4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As earlier stated most of the pedestrians prefer underpass rather
than FOBs and the objective is to find out why 40.2% of pedestrians
are not using the road crossing facilities.
The mean responses of all the questions vary from 1.71 to 2.76
which lie in between ‘neutral’ and ‘strongly agree’. In general, this
result implies that the respondents agree with the possible reasons
of not using the pedestrian facilities identified from field
investigation.
Based on the questionnaire survey it has been found that
insufficient security (mean=1.71) has been identified as the top
reason(R=1) of not using pedestrian foot over bridge or underpass.
The reason is true particularly during night time as no lighting
facilities are observed on any pedestrian overpass which increases
the chance of mugging. Also most of the times, railings of the foot
over bridges are covered by commercial advertisements which
restrict the vision of the security personnel to vigil the FOB.
Time is another important factor which discourages
pedestrians to use the road crossing facilities. Mean value is 1.81
for “using road crossing facilities is time consuming’’ and 61%
pedestrians strongly agree with this statement. Perhaps the
pedestrian are always in hurry which may discourage them to climb
the foot over bridge.
The mean value of the “entry access is poor” is 1.83. Often the
surrounding environment of the entrance of FOB or underpass is
not good. Waste is often dumped near the entrances and bad odor
comes from the waste. Some people simply feel uneasy or
discomfort of not using the pedestrian foot over bridge perhaps
because of not feeling physically comfortable (mean=1.91).
Presence of beggars and hawkers are also a reason of less usage of
pedestrian overpass and underpass.
Interestingly “the climbing height of the facilities” is not a
major cause for the less use of pedestrian foot over bridge or
underpass as implied by the respondents (mean=2.76). Similarly,
the absence of median barrier or roadside barrier has been less
emphasised for not using the road crossing facilities (mean=.2.56).
Narrow and congested condition are not prime reasons of not using
road crossing facilities (mean= 2.31).
Table 3 Views of respondent
Possible causes of not using road crossing facilities
Strongly
Agree
(%)
Agree
(%)
Neutral
(%)
Disagree
(%)
Strongly
Disagree
(%)
Mean
1. I feel uneasy or discomfort to use road crossing facilities.
55
8
28
9
-
1.91 (R=4)
2. It is more time consuming.
61
9
19
10
1
1.81 (R=2)
3. The road crossing facilities are very dirty.
42
21
31
5
1
2.02 (R=5)
4. The climbing height of using the facilities is a problem.
21
10
44
22
3
2.76 (R=11)
5. Hawkers’ problem.
63
1
12
19
5
2.02 (R=5)
6. Insufficient security.
71
2
17
10
1
1.71 (R=1)
7. Takes a long walk
62
4
8
21
5
2.03 (R=6)
8. Entry access is very poor.
69
1
11
16
3
1.83 (R=3)
9. Too much narrow and congested
36
16
33
11
4
2.31 (R=9)
10. Can cross the road easily because no guard rail or restriction is
provided.
28
11
39
21
1
2.56 (R=10)
11.Numbers of beggar is too high
33
23
35
9
-
2.20 (R=8)
12.Unsocial or illegal activities
31
25
39
5
-
2.18 (R=7)
Note: Mean calculated considering Strongly Disagree=5, Disagree=4, Neutral=3, Agree=2, Strongly Agree=1., “R” means “Rank”
83 Md. Mosabbir Pasha et al. / Jurnal Teknologi (Sciences & Engineering) 73:4 (2015) 7783
5.0 CONCLUSION
This study reveals the perception of pedestrians on the use of
pedestrian crossing facilities. Based on the study it is identified
that insufficient security is the prime concern of pedestrians to
use pedestrian foot over bridge or underpass. Security should be
increased so that pedestrians do not fear for the hijacking and
mugging problem.
Field observation suggests that the maintenance of roadside
barrier and median barrier should be improved to separate
pedestrian movements from vehicular traffic and to encourage
pedestrians to use road crossing facilities. Also there are other
sectors which should be improved such as: pedestrian awareness,
social awareness, design improvement etc.
Type of road crossing facilities plays an important role to
increase the efficiency of it. According to our study 71%
pedestrians want underpass rather than FOBs. Thus, we propose,
if possible, to build more underpass rather than overpass.
Nonetheless, several steps have to be taken to improve the
surrounding environment of the FOBs which ultimately increase
their usage. The steps are as follows:
Foot over bridge should be accessible very easily. It means
the entrance should be wide enough and convenient approach to
facilities so that pedestrians can use it without discomfort and
hindrance.
Foot over bridge should be free from all kinds of commercial
and illegal activities. Such as: it should be free from hawkers,
beggars, prostitutes etc. Billboard and advertisement should be
banned in foot over bridge.
Foot over bridge should have appropriate roofing facilities
so that pedestrians can use it during the rainy season as well as in
the hot summer.
Lighting facilities should be increased so that pedestrians
can use the facilities at night without hesitation and discomfort.
Foot over bridge should be aesthetically beautiful.
Public awareness campaign should be organized by the
government and different road authorities. Variable message sign
can be used to warn the pedestrians about the bad impact of not
using road crossing facilities.
Based on the situation observed and survey the most
important sector should be improved is law enforcement.
Government should take proper steps so that if any pedestrians
do not use road crossing facilities or cross the road illegally he or
she should be fined. Unfortunately, till now no fines are imposed
to pedestrians in Bangladesh due to jaywalking, perhaps, the
government is afraid of becoming unpopular to citizens from
political perspective.
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... In order to save time, they do not use the facilities like crosswalks provided for them to cross the road. Besides some of the facilities are not well designed so pedestrians are discouraged to crosswalk ( Pasha et al., 2015 ). As a result, pedestrians are often observed jaywalking to cross the road ( Pasha et al., 2015 ). ...
... Besides some of the facilities are not well designed so pedestrians are discouraged to crosswalk ( Pasha et al., 2015 ). As a result, pedestrians are often observed jaywalking to cross the road ( Pasha et al., 2015 ). To assure pedestrian safe, it is important to identify the factors underlying pedestrian behavior while crossing. ...
... Increased concern about road crossing behavior of pedestrians can be observed all over the world ( Bonnin et al., 2014 ;Ren et al., 2011 ;Zhou et al., 2009 ;Giles, 2019 ;Al Bargi and Daniel, 2020 ;Shawky and Ph, 2016 ), however, the area of interest is much less in low and middle-income countries comparatively. Very few studies have been conducted to identify the factor affecting pedestrian safety in Bangladesh ( Anwari et al., 2021 ;Debnath et al., 2021 ;Hasanat-E-rabbi et al., 2021 ;Mahmud, 2011 ;Sohel Mahmud et al., 2014 ) and road crossing behavior ( Akbar et al., 2020 ;Pasha et al., 2015 ;Shamim and Hasan, 2020 ). However, based on the present literature it can be asserted that no particular studies on predicting pedestrian facilities usage have been investigated yet using multiple supervised machine-learning techniques as shown in Table 1 . ...
Article
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Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users and are over-represented in casualty statistics, particularly in low-and middle-income countries like Bangladesh. To ensure the safety of pedestrians, it is necessary to identify the factors underlying pedestrian behavior while crossing. Hence, this study aims to predict the pedestrian decision regarding crosswalks using supervised machine learning techniques namely, Classification and Regression Tree (CART), Random Forest (RF), and Extreme Gradient Boost (XGBoost). A questionnaire survey was conducted in twelve important locations of Dhaka, Bangladesh using 8 attributes related to crosswalk behavior. Analysis suggests RF model is the most effective in terms of prediction performances, specifically having a 96.00% F1 score and 95.83% MCC value. It has been found that unsuitability of crosswalk location, absence of guard rails on median, and inadequate lightning at night near crosswalks are the most important features for preferring to use crosswalks. The findings of the study will help policymakers and transport planners to plan accordingly in order to develop safe crosswalks.
... Although Dhaka is densely populated and urbanized, there have been limited studies on pedestrians here. One of the studies inspected pedestrians' perception of road crossing facilities in Dhaka using a Likert scale ranking system and found that pedestrians preferred underpasses over footbridges and were discouraged from using road crossing facilities because of the presence of vendors (17). The study made inferences based on descriptive statistics derived from demographic variables. ...
... The new variable, ''risk perception'' contained 17 questions. The questions were on a Likert-type scale ranging from ''always'' to ''never'' with middle categories of ''often,'' ''sometimes,'' and ''rarely'' (17). Perception on boarding and alighting was extracted using six questions. ...
... Except ''type of jaywalking,'' which was a binary response, all the other questions were on a Likert-type scale. The segment captured the following parameters: grouped or ungrouped jaywalking and crossing decisions for medians, barriers, and partially broken barriers; scenario-specific questions addressed the presence of road crossing facilities, being in a hurry-forget to look before crossing, and traffic flow type (13,17,19,22,26,28,30,31,36). ...
Article
Pedestrians account for 65% of all traffic fatalities worldwide. A sub-category of pedestrians is vehicle-to-vehicle vendors, who pose a concern in countries with rapid motorization. For example, 70% of traffic fatalities in Nigeria involve general pedestrians and vendors. Previous studies have highlighted vendors’ heterogeneous road crossing and car-following behaviors. Furthermore, they create a nuisance for general pedestrians. This study contrasts the risk perception of vehicle-to-vehicle vendors and general pedestrians and analyzes grouped and ungrouped illegal crossings of vendors. A questionnaire survey was developed, based on a literature review and expert knowledge, to identify variables associated with risk perception. Interviews based on a questionnaire were conducted in various locations in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which collected 1,019 responses containing information on the respondents’ demographic attributes, risk perception, aggressive behavior, near-crash experiences, and accepted yielding distances. Next, ordinal logit/probit and complementary log-log models were employed to analyze the data. The findings revealed that vehicle-to-vehicle vendors had a lower risk perception than general pedestrians. It also indicated that vendors would take a higher risk than general pedestrians. Furthermore, vendors jaywalking alone had a significantly lower perception of risk. Finally, gender, age, education, accepted yielding distance, and aggressive behavior were the most prominent factors affecting vendors’ risk perception. Gradually separating vendors from the traffic system by shifting them to proper street markets could be a critical solution.
... According to data out of the two Dhaka city corporations, currently there are 43 foot over-bridges in the Dhaka North City Corporation, and 31 in the Dhaka South City Corporation. There are also 4 under crossings in Dhaka City, according to Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) (2013) (Pasha et al., 2015;Awosaf, 2018). Even though Dhaka's main roadways have several foot overbridges, most pedestrians choose to cross the street instead, possibly putting their lives in danger. ...
... The survey asked questions concerning several factors that users believed prevented them from using the overbridge. Ten attributes were selected in accordance with different researches (Pasha et al., 2015;Rana & Hasan, 2018;Zubaer et al., 2022). 200 people in all were interviewed. ...
Conference Paper
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Foot-Overbridge (FoB) are structures which are used for safe movement and passing of pedestrians. In Dhaka city, road users are often seemed to pass between a moving traffic stream rather than using foot-overbridge or underpass. This research deals with pedestrian behavior usage of FoBs and their preference on choosing different modes for passing or crossing a road. Total five footover bridge points have been chosen to conduct a questionnaire survey. The footover bridges are located near Mirpur-1, Mirpur-2, Mirpur-10, Elephant road and Basundhara Residential Area (Jamuna Future Park). Data was collected during 9 AM to 11 AM, 1 PM to 3 PM and 4 PM to 6 PM to see how many people actually use the pedestrian crossing facilities. They were interviewed about the factors that affects pedestrian behavior for reluctance to use foot over bridges. 200 people were interviewed in the process. Different demographic attributes like gender, age, occupation were checked behind any influence on pedestrian flow. From the study it was found that 41% people do not use the FoBs. It has also been found that 56% people prefer crossing the road directly or using zebra crossing. 11% people think underpass as a better mode of crossing than using a FoB. From statistical analysis, time consumption has been cited the most important reason for not choosing road crossing facilities and ignoring safety. Foot overbridge users also gave opinion that safety and discomfort issues often influence the pedestrian choice. Female participants often avoids using underpasses due to lack of safety. The study has been carried out to give an insight about the social factors that vastly influence the crossing mode choice and the developments that need to be taking place to inspire people to use a foot-overbridge or an underpass.
... Specifically, pedestrians belonging to the younger age cohort are more prone to jaywalking and thus face more peril on the roads. When crossing roads, university students belonging to the age group of 18 to 24 face significant distractions and obstacles (Pasha et al., 2015). Americans between the ages of 20 and 24 and those between the ages of 15 and 19 witnessed the most severe accident rates in 2016 (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2016). ...
... Like other vulnerable road user cohorts, university students in Bangladesh face significant dangers and obstacles when crossing roads. Their behavior, such as phone usage, talking to friends, and risk-taking tendencies, combined with a lack of road safety knowledge make them more prone to road traffic accidents (Pasha et al., 2015). Given the significant research on the pedestrian road crossing behavior and pedestrian safety, just a handful of these studies have investigated the critical pedestrian safety elements linked with illegal road crossing conduct among Bangladeshi university students. ...
Conference Paper
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In Bangladesh, majority of pedestrian road crossing fatalities involve young pedestrians. Among them, university students were found to be at higher risk of road traffic accidents, with most of these accidents occurring during commutes to and from the university. However, while exploring the causation of crashes involving these young university students, their jaywalking behavior was not thoroughly examined and was often ignored. In our study 430 samples of data were collected through a questionnaire survey and logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the influence of socioeconomic, demographic, risk perception, traffic law awareness, and other situational factors on jaywalking among university students in Bangladesh. Based on various parameters, the logistic regression model assists in predicting the students' decision-making process before crossing a road. The findings suggest that the most influential factors concerning jaywalking behavior are gender, study year, current living area, eye problem, mode of transportation, mental trauma, use of smartphone, attention to traffic signs, level of safety knowledge, seasonal variation, presence of friends. The outcome of this study will inform policymakers about the characteristics of the students who are more prone to jaywalking and the necessary road safety education training that can be initiated for them.
... Jaywalking can be caused by a variety of reasons, including being in a hurry, being too far from the crosswalk, not seeing a car coming, being distracted by their phones and other devices to get around, or following someone else. A pedestrian may jaywalk if they are drunk, if they are not from the area (pedestrians who are visiting an area for the first time), or if pedestrians don't think jaywalking is a big deal [7][8][9]. ...
... Tarawneh [13] studied pedestrian crossing speed in Jordan and evaluated the effects of age, gender, and distance (street width). In another study, Pasha et al. [8] analyzed the pedestrians' perception on using road crossing facilities in Dhaka. To examine pedestrian perceptions about the use of road crossings, a questionnaire survey was conducted, and the results highlighted that pedestrians are concerned about insufficient security when using pedestrian facilities. ...
Article
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The Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor is a remote sensing technology that can be used to monitor pedestrians who cross an intersection outside of a designated crosswalk or crossing area, which is a key safety application of LiDAR sensors at signalized intersections. Hereupon, the LiDAR sensor was installed at Hillen Rd - E 33rd St intersection in Baltimore city to collect real-time jaywalkers traffic data. In order to propose safety improvement considerations for the pedestrians as one of vulnerable road users, the paper aims to investigate the reasons for jaywalking and its potential risks for increasing the frequency and severity of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. In a three months’ time interval from December 2022 to February 2023, a total of 585 jaywalkers were detected. By developing a generalized linear regression model and using K-means clustering, the highly correlated independent variables to the frequency of jaywalking were recognized including the speed of jaywalkers, average PET of vehicle-pedestrians, frequency of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts, and the weather condition. The volume of vehicles and pedestrians and road infrastructure characteristics such as medians, building entrances, vegetation on medians, and bus/taxi stops were investigated and the results showed that as the frequency of jaywalking increases, vehicle-pedestrian conflicts will occur more frequently and with greater severity. In addition, jaywalking speed increases the likelihood of severe vehicle-pedestrian conflicts. Also, during cloudy and rainy days, 397 pedestrians were motivated to jaywalk (or 68% of total jaywalkers), making weather a significant factor in the increase in jaywalking.
... It was also established in the studies that the presence of hawkers and beggars on the footbridges is a reason for nonuse of the footbridges. This concern is similar to findings by Pasha et al. (2015) and Banerjee et al. (2020) who indicated in their research that trading and begging activities narrow stair widths and for that matter the effective walkway widths and increase mobility friction on footbridges (Banerjee et al., 2020;Pasha et al., 2015). ...
... It was also established in the studies that the presence of hawkers and beggars on the footbridges is a reason for nonuse of the footbridges. This concern is similar to findings by Pasha et al. (2015) and Banerjee et al. (2020) who indicated in their research that trading and begging activities narrow stair widths and for that matter the effective walkway widths and increase mobility friction on footbridges (Banerjee et al., 2020;Pasha et al., 2015). ...
Article
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Pedestrian fatalities constitute a fourth of all road deaths in Ghana. Footbridges are recent countermeasures deployed to improve pedestrians’ safety in Ghana. The main objectives of the research were to: (i) identify the lapses on the footbridges and their effects on pedestrian crossing behavior in the vicinity of the edifices, (ii) explore the reasons why pedestrians do not use the footbridges and, (iii) evaluate the road safety impact of the footbridges on pedestrian safety. Naturalistic observations and peak-hour pedestrian counts on the footbridges and within the vicinities of the facilities were carried out. Focus group discussions were also conducted to understand pedestrian crossing and walking behavior at the footbridges. Lastly, pedestrian casualties were analyzed for 3 years before and after the bridge construction. There were 165 pedestrian casualties along the highway section. Of these, 29% were fatal while 40% of the victims were hospitalized for at least 24-hours. Many pedestrians still cross the multilane-highway at grade. The main reasons for non-use of the bridges include heights, lengths, security, poor illumination and hawking. Pedestrian injuries have significantly declined during the after period compared with the before period. Findings have implications for road safety education and siting of future footbridges.
... Therefore, walking is one of the main modes of transport all over the world, particularly in developing cities where the motorization rate is low and mixed land use with huge densification. According to different studies, walking is the single largest group of travel mode in Dhaka city catering to more than 50 % of all trips (Pasha, et al., 2015;Hoque, Mahmud, and Qazi., 2008). This is mainly attributed to the trip length as 76% of all trips are under 5 km, and 50% are under 2 km in Dhaka city (Barkat, et al., 2004) which makes walking a convenient mode of transport. ...
... Those studies pointed out that lack of walking and crossing facilities and adverse road and roadside environments are the principal reasons behind these deaths (Hoque, M.M., S.M.S. Mahmud, and A.S. Pedestrian Safety in Dhaka Mega City of Bangladesh………….. Qazi., 2008;Mahmud, et al., 2006;Hoque, and Salehin, 2013;Hoque, Pervaz, and Paul., 2016). Some studies evaluated the level of satisfaction with the existing facilities and preference (Pasha, et al., 2015), self-reported problems. Few studies also investigated and reported the crossing and walking behavior of pedestrians using observational techniques including video observation (Obaidat, et al., 2007). ...
Article
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Pedestrians are always the most vulnerable road victims in terms of crash involvement. In low-motorized developing countries like Bangladesh, this problem is disproportionately higher, particularly in an urban setting. Therefore, there is a need to develop a pragmatic strategy to arrest this problem with a proper understanding of their behavior, attitude, and perception. In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the risk perception, attitude, and behavior of pedestrians. A comprehensive questionnaire survey enabled the collection of pedestrian behavior, attitude, and risk perception data, which included different categories of users. From this analysis, it is evident that perception and attitude are closely related, and in most cases that is very positive. However, there is a huge gap between perception, attitude, and behavior. Many respondents have proven their accurate feelings, right understanding, or belief, but their behavior represents differently. The paper elaborates on these two confronting issues with the evidence and concludes with potential implications for improving pedestrian safety.
... Comparison among the pedestrian facilities in term of 'pedestrian compliance', clearly indicates that pedestrians react differently to different pedestrian facilities. The similar finding of different pedestrian characteristics from different aspects vary according to different pedestrian facilities is found in some researches [17,18,19,20]. Based on the field results it is concluded that on average pedestrian compliance to passive facilities is less encouraging compared to active ones. ...
Conference Paper
Pedestrian are vulnerable road users who have high potential to encounter traffic hazard. Therefore, an evaluation of pedestrian's safety is considered as one of the important components to prevent road traffic injuries. This study was conducted to evaluate the pedestrian level of awareness and compliance behaviour at urban area. Two data collection methods, by questionnaires survey and video recording, were adopted in the research. The questionnaires survey collected data on the pedestrian's level of awareness exploring their level of knowledge, their attitude towards the pedestrian facilities provided and their awareness about their own safety when using the varying types of pedestrian facilities. At the same time, we conducted video recording to assess the pedestrians risk taking and compliance behaviour towards the pedestrian facilties. Several locations with high pedestrian traffic at Central Business District in Johor and Penang, Malaysia were selected as the study areas. The results show a similar trend of pedestrian level of awareness and travelling behaviour towards various pedestrian facilities for both cities which indicating that pedestrians’ compliance behaviour does influence by varying types of pedestrian facilities.
Article
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Motives: In response to the inherent vulnerability of pedestrians in urban settings, this paper is driven by a commitment to enhancing their mobility and safety. Recognizing the prevalence of jaywalking as a significant concern, the study seeks practical solutions through the application of LiDAR sensors at signalized intersections. By delving into the complexities of jaywalking events and their contributing factors, the research aims to provide valuable insights that extend beyond mere statistical analysis. The motivations behind this endeavor lie in the imperative to comprehensively understand and address the risks associated with jaywalking, ultimately fostering a safer environment for pedestrians navigating urban crossroads. Aim: The primary aim of this paper is to assess and analyze the diverse factors influencing the frequency of jaywalking at signalized intersections, leveraging the capabilities of LiDAR sensors for safety applications. Through a meticulous examination of 1000 jaywalking events detected over a six-month period, the study aims to pinpoint highly correlated independent variables to the frequency of jaywalking events. These variables include traffic signal controller patterns, signal phases, vehicle-pedestrian conflicts, weather conditions, vehicle volume, walking patterns toward the median, pedestrian volume, and the unique jaywalker's ratio. Employing advanced statistical regression models, the research seeks to identify optimal models and unravel key insights into the nuanced dynamics of jaywalking behavior. The overarching goal is to equip decision-makers and transportation specialists with data-driven knowledge, enabling them to implement targeted safety measures that mitigate pedestrian risks and enhance safety infrastructure at critical urban crossroads. Results: The outcomes of the study, derived from the optimal Poisson regression model, yield crucial insights into the multifaceted nature of jaywalking events at signalized intersections. The morning and mid-day signal controller patterns exhibit a substantial decrease of 44.7% and 34.4%, respectively, compared to the evening (PM) pattern, shedding light on temporal nuances in jaywalking behavior. Additionally, the severity of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts escalates proportionally with the number of jaywalkers, emphasizing the importance of addressing pedestrian flow in mitigating potential conflicts. Notably, the presence of vegetation in the median emerges as a significant factor, significantly increasing the frequency of jaywalking. These results contribute to a nuanced understanding of the intricate interplay between environmental, temporal, and behavioral factors in jaywalking incidents. Decision-makers and transportation specialists can leverage these findings to formulate targeted safety interventions, fostering a safer pedestrian experience at crucial urban crossroads.
Article
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Pedestrian accidents occur due to improper crossing patterns of people and improper crossing attempts occur for the lack of proper road crossing infrastructure and poor traffic management. In Dhaka, where the pedestrian number is high, proper road crossing infrastructure is a must to halt collisions of pedestrians with running vehicles. In this paper, pedestrian crossing behavior has been analyzed to provide proper pedestrian crossing infrastructure at anticipated points. This study has been conducted at 2 intersections of Dhaka; Mirpur 10 circle and Gulshan 2 circle. Mirpur 10 circle contains foot over bridge and Gulshan 2 circle without foot over bridge. The data has been collected in a quantitative method. It is a co-relational study where people's behavior has been observed in their natural environment. This method is a type of field research. Separate models have been prepared to recognize pedestrians' behavior. The factors for different models are; pedestrians' age, gender, and luggage carrying. For the intersection having the foot over bridge, the percentage of pedestrians using the bridge and the percentage of pedestrians using roads have been counted. For intersections not having foot over bridges, the difference in the crossing pattern of the pedestrians has been observed and the relation between the pattern and factors is analyzed. Walkers risk their lives even to avoid using bridges for crossing in order to save time and energy. This research will be helpful to identify the reason for the unwillingness to use foot over bridges and crosswalks of various types of pedestrians and thus the proper crossing facilities can be ensured to make the amblers' walking comfortable and safe.
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In combating the man-made epidemic on road by traffic accidents and injuries, some major initiatives have been undertaken in Bangladesh in the past decade including policy formulation, research, education, legislation & sanctions, and engineering intervention. In comparison to the magnitude of the problems, the progresses are very slow due to enormous constraints at different levels. In this paper, the authors briefly reviewed some major road safety initiatives in recent years in Bangladesh taken by different government and private organizations. The key issue of this paper is to evaluate the initial impact of some of those interventions.
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Pedestrians are involved in traffic accidents due to many reasons. It is generally thought that personal background of pedestrians has an effect on their involvement rate in the road traffic accidents. Identifying these characteristics would lead to a better understanding of pedestrian accident pattern so that the resources in the field of education, engineering, and enforcement could be used in better ways. This study attempts to test the hypothesis mentioned earlier. The investigated personal background includes the following characteristics: gender, type, age, nationality, and educational background. The data was reduced from vast number of pedestrian injury accident reports in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The actual accident records were categorized according to these characteristics and compared to their exposure risk. It was assumed that the exposure risk, which is the expected number of accidents for each category of the pedestrians, was in proportion to their presence in the pedestrian population. Another study was carried out in parallel to observe the pedestrian characteristics in Bahrain. The results of the two studies were analyzed statistically using Chi-square method to compare the actual to the expected accident frequencies. The whole Kingdom of Bahrain population statistics were used wherever the information on the pedestrian population was not available. The findings revealed that personal characteristics considered in this study have significant influence on pedestrian’s involvement in traffic accidents. The results also showed that pedestrians with the following characteristics were probably showing risk to exposure to accidents more than other categories: male, young (0–12 years) and old (50 years and over), non-local, and those with low educational background.
Conference Paper
Pedestrian injuries have become a major safety problem all over the world, especially in Asia, including Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, with a low level of motorization, the role of walk mode is quite significant. However, pedestrians have received far less attention while comparing with vehicular traffic. Up to 61 percent of urban road accident deaths are pedestrians alone. Pedestrians accounted for 49 percent of all reported fatalities in Bangladesh. Above statistics clearly show that pedestrians are one of the most vulnerable groups from road accident perspective. For developing proper countermeasure to reduce the number of pedestrian involved crashes, adequate studies are required to understand why these crashes occur. It is understandable that risk taking behavior is one reason of pedestrian crashes and risk perception is associated with risk taking behavior in traffic hazards. The aim of this study was to explore student’s perception of pedestrian risk and the factors associated with it. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the University students, and a total of 150 samples were collected. Multiple regression analysis was applied to analyze the data. The study revealed the factors influencing the perceived risk of pedestrians.
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Pedestrians in Tanzania face many problems when crossing roads, including safety and convenience, which discourage the use of this important mode of transport. This study was aimed at determining pedestrians׳ preferences of environmental and infrastructural attributes of crosswalks in order to improve the utility of the facilities and mode by promoting elements preferred by the majority of pedestrians. The survey involved interviewing pedestrians and the results indicated that the majority prefer to cross on level ground and medians, with females and younger pedestrians more willing to use non-level crossings. The most preferred viable options for controlling vehicles׳ speed and the crosswalk were humps on either side of the crossing and the use of signals (especially on higher class roads), respectively. The majority considered safety to be the most desirable improvement with females and those on utilitarian trips most in support. Also, pedestrians׳ preference of attributes in relation to different road classes highly agrees with current design principles. It was found that gender, age of pedestrian, purpose of trip and road class affect pedestrian preference and if considered in the planning and design of crossing facilities, they can result in improved safety, convenience and use of this Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) mode.
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Walking, the simplest form of transportation has many benefits for pedestrians and the society. Yet, pedestrians are a vulnerable group of people and safety concerns are a significant barrier in one's decision to walk. Multiple signal related pedestrian countermeasures have been proposed to promote pedestrian safety. Although the safety impacts of individual strategies have been investigated, their relative effectiveness is little known. Furthermore, those effective in reducing pedestrian crashes may be at odds with motorist safety.
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Pedestrian behaviour was observed at seven selected intersections in Delhi, India. Data collection occurred at these intersections by placing a video camera at each zebra crossing. Pedestrian crossing behaviour was then obtained from careful review of the videotapes. Pedestrian crossing behaviour was analyzed using survival analysis statistical methodology. The analyses produce Kaplan–Meier survival curves for waiting time prior to crossing unsafely, separately for males and females, and for each intersection. Mean observed waiting time and model-based waiting time of 90% of pedestrians were then studied. Mean waiting time of females are 27% more than for males, while the waiting time of 90% of female pedestrians are 44% more than the corresponding number for males. The probability for a pedestrian to cross the road, when it is unsafe, i.e. motor vehicles still have green or yellow, varies with waiting time. People do not want to wait too long to cross streets. As signal waiting time increases, pedestrians get impatient and violate the traffic signal. This violation places them at increased risk of being struck by a motor vehicle. Thus, reducing the waiting time for pedestrians are likely to decrease the probability of pedestrian crossers being hit by a motor vehicle.
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This paper presents a methodology for studying pedestrians’ behavior at pedestrian crossings. To help understand the behavior of pedestrians, separate models were developed and estimated for divided and undivided streets. Estimated models include waiting time at the curbside and the number of crossing attempts needed by the pedestrian to make a successful crossing. From a broad range of road user and roadway factors, the strongest and most significant predictors which influenced the pedestrian’s waiting time and the frequency of attempts to cross the streets were gender, age, number of children in household, crossing frequency, number of people in the group attempting to cross, access to private vehicle, destination, home location in relation to pedestrian crossing, and pedestrian past involvement in traffic accidents. In addition to these predictors, maximum likelihood estimates revealed that the pedestrian expected waiting time seems to profoundly influence the number of attempts needed to successfully cross the street (divided or undivided). Furthermore, results relating to pedestrian crossings on divided streets indicate that the pedestrian’s expected waiting time when crossing from one side of the street to the central refuge island seem to increase the risk to end the waiting time when crossing from the refuge island to the other side of the street. Finally, results seem to suggest that pedestrians behave differently or have different waiting times as they cross from one side of the street to the refuge and from the refuge to the other side of the street.
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The high share of pedestrian fatalities in Israel provided the impetus for this study which looked for infrastructure solutions to improve pedestrian safety. First, a detailed analysis of pedestrian accidents in 2006-2007, with an emphasis on the infrastructure characteristics involved, was performed; it found that 75% of the fatalities and 95% of the injuries occurred in urban areas, the majority of cases occurring on road sections (not at junctions). About 80% of the accidents took place when a pedestrian crossed the road, the majority of them at non-crosswalk locations or at non-signalized crosswalks. International comparisons showed that the characteristics of fatal pedestrian accidents in Israel were similar to the average pedestrian accident in Europe in terms of accident location, time, and the demographic characteristics of the victims. A typology of pedestrian fatalities in Israel was built for the years 2003-2006; it demonstrated a high share of accidents at these locations: in Jewish or mixed-population towns-not at pedestrian crossings on urban street sections, and both at pedestrian crossings and not at pedestrian crossings at urban junctions; in Arab towns; and on dual-carriageway rural roads. Second, based on a literature study, a summary of about 60 pedestrian-safety-related measures was developed. Third, to diagnose the infrastructure characteristics and deficiencies associated with pedestrian accidents, detailed field studies were carried out at 95 urban locations. A major finding revealed that more than 80% of the sites with a high concentration of pedestrian-vehicle accidents in Israel were situated on arterial multi-lane streets belonging to city centers, where on a micro-level there were no indications of major deficiencies in the basic design elements of most sites. Finally, cross-checking of the safety problems identified and the infrastructure solutions available provided lists of measures recommended for application at various types of sites. It was concluded that in order to generate a significant change in the state of pedestrian injury in Israel, a move from spot treatment to a systemic treatment of the problem is required. A systemic inquiry and the transformation of the urban road network should be performed in order to diminish the areas of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts and to significantly reduce vehicle speeds in areas of pedestrian presence and activity.
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Crashes between pedestrians and motor vehicles are an important traffic safety concern. This paper explores the assignment of fault in such crashes, where observed factors are associated with pedestrian at fault, driver at fault, or both at fault. The analysis is based on police reported crash data for 1997 through 2000 in North Carolina, U.S.A. The results show that pedestrians are found at fault in 59% of the crashes, drivers in 32%, and both are found at fault in 9%. The results indicate drivers need to take greater notice of pedestrians when drivers are turning, merging, and backing up as these are some of the prime factors associated with the driver being found at fault in a crash. Pedestrians must apply greater caution when crossing streets, waiting to cross, and when walking along roads, as these are correlated with pedestrians being found at fault. The results suggest a need for campaigns focused on positively affecting pedestrian street-crossing behavior in combination with added jaywalking enforcement. The results also indicate that campaigns to increase the use of pedestrian visibility improvements at night can have a significant positive impact on traffic safety. Intoxication is a concern and the results show that it is not only driver intoxication that is affecting safety, but also pedestrian intoxication. The findings show in combination with other research in the field, that results from traffic safety studies are not necessarily transferable between distant geographic locations, and that location-specific safety research needs to take place. It is also important to further study the specific effects of the design of the pedestrian environment on safety, e.g. crosswalk spacing, signal timings, etc., which together may affect pedestrian safety and pedestrian behavior.
Article
Using a comprehensive database of police-reported accidents in Hawaii, we describe the nature of pedestrian accidents over the period 2002-2005. Approximately 36% of the accidents occur in residential areas, while another 34% occur in business areas. Only 41.7% of the pedestrian accidents occur at intersections. More pedestrian crashes occur at non-intersection locations-including midblock locations, driveways, parking lots, and other off roadway locations. Approximately 38.2% of the crashes occur at crosswalk locations, while proportionately more (61.8%) of the pedestrian accidents occur at non-crosswalk locations. Using this database the human, temporal, roadway, and environmental factors associated with being "at-fault" for both pedestrians and drivers are also examined. Using techniques of logistic regression, several different explanatory models are constructed, to identify the factors associated with crashes producing fatalities and serious injuries. Finally, two pedestrian models (drunk males and young boys) and one driver model (male commuters) are developed to provide further understanding of pedestrian accident causation. Drunk male pedestrians who were jaywalking were in excess of 10x more likely than other groups to be at-fault in pedestrian accidents. Young boys in residential areas were also more likely to be at-fault. Male commuters in business areas in the morning were also found to have higher odds of being classified at-fault when involved in pedestrian accidents. The results of this study indicate that there should be a combination of enforcement and educational programs implemented for both the pedestrian and drivers to show those at-fault the consequences of their actions, and to reduce the overall number of accidents.