Human Factors Assessment of Pedestrian Roadway Crossing Behavior

Results

The follow subsections describe the overall crossing behavior results from phase 2.

Descriptive Data

Table 19 summarizes the crossing behaviors recorded during the coded data collection times. All values are combined over the seven data collection locations. The following subsections explain the basic descriptive data for each of the seven locations in further detail.

Table 19. Summary of pedestrian crossings—combined across all seven data collection locations.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 9

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 805 pedestrian crossings on Connecticut Avenue Northwest between Florida Avenue and Leroy Place Northwest. (See table 20 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 717 (or 89.07 percent) occurred within the marked intersection (i.e., marked crosswalk). These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, 625 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional 33 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, 59 crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, 20 began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional 39 began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the walk phase.

At Location 9, 88 (or 10.93 percent) of the total 805 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 29 took place with traffic, and 53 took place against traffic. A portion of the pedestrian crossings that took place at an unmarked non-intersection area involved a traffic flow change. Four of these crossings began with traffic and ended against traffic, and two began against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were three yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles). In two instances, pedestrians yielded to vehicles and a single vehicle yielded to a pedestrian at an unmarked non-intersection location against traffic. No other yielding behaviors were observed.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of seven pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 9; all involved running/accelerated walking. There were three instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while in the marked intersection entirely during the don’t walk phase. In an additional case, a pedestrian began crossing during the don’t walk phase and completed the crossing during the walk phase. There were also three instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while crossing at and unmarked non-intersection location.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No recorded evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 9.

Table 20. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 9.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 10

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 528 pedestrian crossings on Connecticut Avenue Northwest between Van Ness Street and Veazey Terrace. (See table 21 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 446 (or 84.47 percent) occurred within the marked intersection (i.e., marked crosswalk). These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, 445 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. In a single additional instance, a pedestrian crossed starting in the don’t walk phase but completed the crossing during the walk light phase.

At Location 10, 82 (15.53 percent) of the total 528 crossings took place in an unmarked non-intersection area. Of these, 46 took place with traffic, and 34 took place against traffic.

A portion of the pedestrian crossings that took place at an unmarked non-intersection area involved a traffic flow change. A single crossing began with traffic and ended against traffic, and a single crossing began against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 161 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles). In a single case, a pedestrian who began crossing during the don’t walk phase, but completed the crossing during the walk phase, yielded to a vehicle. There were also 10 cases where pedestrians yielded to vehicles while crossing in an unmarked non-intersection location. One of these instances occurred with traffic and nine occurred against traffic.

There were 150 cases of vehicles yielding to pedestrians. In 146 of these instances, vehicles yielded to pedestrians crossing during the walk phase in the marked intersection. The remaining four instances occurred when pedestrians were crossing at unmarked non-intersection locations against traffic.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of 11 pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 10, and all involved running/ accelerated walking. There were two instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while in the marked intersection during the walk phase. There were also nine instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while crossing at and unmarked non-intersection location.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No recorded evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 10.

Table 21. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 10.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 11

Total Crossings:

A total of 17 pedestrian crossings were recorded on Georgia Avenue Northwest between Arkansas Avenue and Farragut Street Northwest. (See table 22 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 12 (or 70.59 percent) occurred within the marked intersection. These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, there were 10 pedestrian crossings. During the don’t walk phase, there were two crossings.

There were five total crossings in an unmarked non-intersection area. Of these, three occurred with traffic and two occurred against traffic.

Yielding:

No yielding behaviors were recorded at Location 11.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

No evasive pedestrian actions were recorded at Location 11.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 11.

Table 22. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 11.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 12

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 185 crossings on Georgia Avenue Northwest between Irving Avenue and Kenyon Street Northwest. (See table 23 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 127 (or 68.65 percent) occurred within the marked intersection. These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, 120 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional six crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. There was also a single crossing that began during the walk phase and was completed during the don’t walk phase.

At Location 12, 58 (31.35 percent) of the total 185 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 29 took place with traffic, and 27 took place against traffic. Two of these crossings began with traffic and ended against traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 23 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles) at Location 12. There were five instances of pedestrians yielding to vehicles while crossing in the unmarked non-intersection area.

Of the 18 instances of vehicles yielding to pedestrians, 12 occurred while the pedestrian was crossing during the walk phase in the marked intersection. The remaining seven cases where vehicles yielded to pedestrians occurred during unmarked non-intersection crossings.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

No evasive pedestrian actions were recorded at Location 12.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

There were two recorded instances of vehicles abruptly braking for pedestrians at Location 12. Both occurred while pedestrians were crossing at an unmarked non-intersection area.

Table 23. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 12.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 13

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 609 crossings on H Street Northwest between Connecticut Avenue and 16th Street Northwest. (See table 24 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 554 (or 90.97 percent) occurred within the marked intersection (i.e., marked crosswalk). These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, 173 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional 285 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, 96 crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, 66 began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional 30 began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the walk phase.

At Location 13, 55 (or 9.03 percent) of the total 609 crossings took place in an unmarked non-intersection area. Of these, 31 took place with traffic, and 22 took place against traffic. An additional two of these crossings began with traffic and ended against traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 25 yielding behaviors. All of these instances involved vehicles yielding to pedestrians. Of these, 24 took place while a pedestrian was crossing in the marked intersection during the walk phase. In a single case, a vehicle yielded to a pedestrian crossing against traffic in an unmarked non-intersection area.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of 20 pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 13. Of these, 18 involved running/ accelerated walking. There was a single instance of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while in the marked intersection entirely during the walk phase. There were two cases where pedestrians began crossing during the walk phase but completed their crossing in the don’t walk phase. In addition, 12 pedestrians ran/accelerated while crossing in the marked intersection entirely during the don’t walk phase. Three pedestrians ran/accelerated while crossing in an unmarked non-intersection area.

In a single case, a pedestrian stopped while making a crossing that began during the don’t walk phase and concluded during the walk phase. There was also a single pedestrian who changed directions while crossing in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 13.

Table 24. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 13.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 14

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 205 pedestrian crossings on Independence Avenue Southwest between Washington Avenue and 1st Street Southwest. (See table 25 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 184 (or 89.76 percent) occurred within the marked intersection (i.e., marked crosswalk). These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, 165 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional 10 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, nine crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, three began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional six began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the “walk phase.”

At Location 14, 21 (or 10.24 percent) of the total 205 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 13 took place with traffic and 7 took place against traffic. One of these crossings began against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 27 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles). In two instances, pedestrians yielded to vehicles at an unmarked non-intersection location against traffic.

There were 23 instances of vehicles yielding to pedestrians crossing in the marked intersection during the walk phase and a single case where a pedestrian began crossing during the walk phase but completed the crossing during the don’t walk phase. There was also a single case where a vehicle yielded to a pedestrian crossing in the unmarked non-intersection area.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of four pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 14; all involved running/accelerated walking. There were two instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while in the marked intersection entirely during the don’t walk phase. There were also two instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while crossing at an unmarked non-intersection location.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 14.

Table 25. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 14.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 15

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 840 pedestrian crossings on Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast between 8th Street and 7th Street Southeast. (See table 26 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 533 (or 63.45 percent) occurred within the marked intersection (i.e., marked crosswalk). These crossings can be broken down into when they occurred during the light phases. During the walk phase, 464 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional 57 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. There were also 11 crossings that occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, three began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional nine began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the walk phase.

At Location 15, 307 (or 36.55 percent) of the total 840 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 237 took place with traffic, and 62 took place against traffic. A portion of the pedestrian crossings that took place at an unmarked non-intersection area involved a traffic flow change. Seven of these crossings began with traffic and ended against traffic, and one began against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were seven yielding behaviors. There were three instances of vehicles yielding to a pedestrian crossing in the marked intersection that began in the walk phase but concluded in the don’t walk phase. There were also four cases of vehicles yielding to pedestrians crossing in an unmarked non-intersection area. No other yielding behaviors were observed.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of 18 pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 15. There were three instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while in the marked intersection entirely during the don’t walk phase. In an additional case, a pedestrian began crossing during the don’t walk phase and completed the crossing during the walk phase. There were also 10 instances of pedestrian running/accelerated walking while crossing at and unmarked non-intersection location.

In a single case, a pedestrian stopped for a vehicle while crossing at an unmarked non-intersection area. In three instances, pedestrians changed directions while at an unmarked non-intersection area.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 15.

Table 26. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 15.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Predictive Model

Based on the results from the first eight cameras (and similarly low percentages of non-intersection crossings), another predictive modeling attempt was not made for cameras 9 through 15. Instead, modeling was completed after additional data were collected in phase 3.

Factor-Specific Analyses

This results section evaluates each of the recorded crossing variables in detail.

Crossing Location

Table 27 summarizes the percentage of pedestrians, by location, who crossed at marked intersections and unmarked non-intersections. The percentage of each type of crossing is presented at each location. For example, at Location 9, 77.64 percent of the total crossings took place in the marked intersection during the walk phase. When all locations are combined, the percentage of pedestrians who crossed at the marked intersection is 80.68. The mean percentage of pedestrians crossing at each of the seven locations is 79.57. None of the locations are outliers.

Table 27. Percentage of pedestrians at each crossing area in each data collection location.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Pedestrian Yielding

Table 28 summarizes the percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles within each crossing type. As an example, at Location 9, of the 53 total crossings made against traffic in the unmarked non-intersection area, 2 pedestrians yielded to a vehicle. This is the equivalent of 3.77 percent of the total crossings in this specific crossing type. The mean percentage of pedestrians yielding to vehicles across each of the seven locations is .86. If all of the locations are compared with one another, none are outliers.

The mean percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles in the marked intersection was .03. If all of the locations are compared with one another, Location 10, the only non-zero value, is not surprisingly considered an outlier and is 2.27 standard deviations above the mean.

Next, the mean percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles in unmarked non-intersections was examined. Overall, the mean percentage of yielding was 4.66. No outliers exist here. In other words, when looking at these seven locations alone, none are significantly different with regard to the proportion of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles in unmarked non-intersection areas.

A t-test was performed to determine whether the proportion of pedestrian yielding behaviors differed between the marked intersection and the unmarked non-intersection. No significant difference between the two locations was found, t(6) = -2.34, p > .05.

Crossings where the pedestrian completed the entire crossing during the walk phase in the marked intersection were compared with all other pedestrian yielding. Here, there were no instances of pedestrians yielding while crossing in the marked intersection entirely during the walk light phase. There was no significant difference in the percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles during the walk phase in the marked intersection (M = 0 percent) compared with those pedestrians who yielded to vehicles in all other situations (M = 3.87 percent), t(6) = -2.00, p > .05.

Table 28. Percentage of pedestrians yielding to vehicles in each crossing area at each data collection location.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Vehicle Yielding

Table 29 summarizes the percentage of vehicles that yielded to pedestrians within each crossing area at each location. As an example, at Location 14, there were 23 instances of vehicles yielding to pedestrians crossing in the walk phase in the marked intersection. This is 13.94 percent of the 165 total walk phase crossings at this location.

The overall percentage of crossings that involved a vehicle yielding to a pedestrian was compared across locations. The mean percentage of crossings that involved vehicle yielding was 9.71. The Location 10 value of 28.41 percent was 2.00 standard deviations above the mean and considered an outlier. If the Location 10 value is removed, no other outliers remain. These overall yielding behaviors do not provide much information about where vehicles are yielding to pedestrians. As a result, yielding behaviors by crossing area are examined next.

The mean percentage of vehicles that yielded to pedestrians in the marked intersection was 8.59. If all of the locations are compared with one another, the Location 10 value of 32.74 percent was 2.05 standard deviations above the mean and is considered an outlier. If Location 10 is removed, no other outliers remain.

Next, the mean percentage of drivers that yielded to pedestrians in unmarked non-intersections was examined. Overall, the mean percentage of yielding was 3.46. No outliers exist here. In other words, when looking at these seven locations alone, none are significantly different in the proportion of vehicles that yielded to pedestrians in unmarked non-intersection areas.

A t-test was performed to determine whether a difference existed in the percentage of vehicle yielding behaviors between the marked intersections and the unmarked non-intersections. No significant difference between the two locations was found, t(6) = 1.28, p > .05. Next, crossings where the pedestrian crossed entirely during the walk phase in the marked intersection were compared with all other vehicle yielding. Here, there was no significant difference in the percentage of vehicles that yielded to vehicles during the walk phase in the marked intersection (M = 10.09 percent) compared with those vehicles that yielded to vehicles in all other situations (M = 3.10 percent), t(6) = 1.70, p > .05.

Table 29. Percentage of vehicles yielding to pedestrians within each crossing area at each data collection location.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Yielding Comparison

It is important to understand overall yielding behavior. Here pedestrian and vehicle yielding are compared. First, yielding behaviors in the marked intersection were examined. No significant difference between pedestrian (M = .03 percent) and vehicle (M = 8.59 percent) yielding was found, t(6) = -1.93, p > .05. Similarly, when examining yielding behavior in the unmarked non-intersection, no significant difference between pedestrian (M = 4.66) and vehicle (M = .89 percent) yielding was found, t(6) = -1.93, p > .05.

Next, yielding behaviors within the marked intersection that took place entirely during the walk light phase were examined. A t-test revealed that there was no significant difference in the percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles (M = 0 percent) and the percentage of vehicles who yielded to pedestrians (M = 10.09 percent), t(6) = -2.24, p > .05. Next, yielding behaviors that took place while the pedestrian crossed either in the unmarked non-intersection or at least partially during the don’t walk phase in the marked intersection were examined. There was no significant difference in the percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles (M = 3.86 percent) and the percentage of vehicles who yielded to pedestrians (M = 3.10 percent), t(6) = 0.579, p > .05.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions

Table 30 summarizes the percentage of pedestrian evasive actions within each crossing area at each of the data collection locations. Each of the three types of evasive actions (running/ accelerated walking, abrupt stopping, and directional change) was combined to obtain a better overall perspective on pedestrian evasive actions.

The overall percentages of crossings that involved pedestrian evasive actions were compared across locations. The mean percentage of crossings that involved a pedestrian evasive action was 2.32. None of the locations had a mean percentage that was more than 2 standard deviations away from this mean. In other words, no outliers existed. These overall values do not provide much information about where pedestrians are making evasive actions. As a result, evasive actions by crossing area are examined next.

The mean percentage of pedestrians who took evasive actions in the marked intersection was 1.30. If all of the locations are compared with one another, none are considered outliers.

Next, the mean percentage of pedestrians who took evasive actions in unmarked non-intersections was examined. Overall, the mean percentage was 6.57. No outliers exist here. In other words, when looking at these eight locations, none are significantly different with regard to the proportion of pedestrians who took evasive actions in unmarked non-intersection areas.

A t-test was performed to determine whether a difference existed in the percentage of pedestrian evasive actions between the marked intersection and the unmarked non-intersection. A significant difference between the two locations was found, t(6) = -3.51, p = .013. Next, crossings where the pedestrian crossed entirely during the walk phase in the marked intersection were compared with all other pedestrian evasive actions. Here, there was again a significant difference in the percentage of pedestrians who took evasive actions during the walk phase in the marked intersection (M = .39 percent) compared with those pedestrians who took evasive actions in all other situations (M = 6.82 percent), t(6) = -3.82, p = .009.

Table 30. Percentage of pedestrian evasive actions within each crossing area at each data collection location.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Evasive Vehicle Actions

Table 31 summarizes the percentage of vehicle evasive actions within each crossing area at each of the data collection locations. Each of the four types of evasive actions (abrupt braking—first vehicle, abrupt braking—second vehicle, directional change—first vehicle, and directional change—second vehicle) were combined to obtain a better overall perspective on vehicle evasive actions.

Location 12 was the only location where evasive actions were observed. As a result, no further analyses were completed.

Table 31. Percentage of vehicle evasive actions within each crossing area at each data collection location.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Evasive Action Comparison

Because no vehicles took evasive actions, a comparison between vehicle and pedestrian evasive actions was not made.