Human Factors Assessment of Pedestrian Roadway Crossing Behavior

Results

The follow subsections describe the overall crossing behavior results from phase 3.

Descriptive Data

Table 33 summarizes the crossing behaviors recorded during the coded data collection times. All values are combined over the five data collection locations. The following subsections explain the basic descriptive data for each of the five locations in further detail.

Table 33. Summary of pedestrian crossings—combined across data collection locations 16–20.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 16

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 280 pedestrian crossings on North Washington Street between King Street and Cameron Street. (See table 34 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 262 (or 93.57 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, 232 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional eight crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, 22 crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, 16 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 16, 18 (or 6.43 percent) of the total 280 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 14 took place with traffic, and 1 took place against traffic. A portion of the pedestrian crossings that took place at an unmarked non-intersection area involved a traffic flow change. All three of these crossings began against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 58 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles). There was a single instance of a pedestrian yielding to a vehicle in an unmarked non-intersection area. In the remaining 57 instances of yielding, the vehicle yielded to the pedestrian. In 55 of these instances, pedestrians were walking in the marked intersection during the walk phase. In the remaining two cases, the vehicle yielded to a pedestrian in the unmarked non-intersection. No other yielding behaviors were observed.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of 10 pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 16, and all involved running/ accelerated walking. In eight cases, pedestrians began crossing during the walk phase and completed the crossing in the don’t walk phase. There was a single instance 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:

There were two recorded evasive vehicle actions at Location 16. In both cases, the vehicle abruptly stopped for a pedestrian crossing in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase.

Table 34. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 16.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 17

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 225 pedestrian crossings on King Street between North Washington Street and Saint Asaph Street. (See table 35 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 184 (or 81.77 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 13 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, six crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, four began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional two began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the walk phase.

At Location 17, 41 (or 18.22 percent) of the total 225 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 24 took place with traffic, and 17 took place against traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 38 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles). In 15 cases, pedestrians yielded to vehicles. Twelve of these occurred while the pedestrian was in the marked intersection during the walk phase. In the remaining three instances, pedestrians yielded to vehicles while crossing in the unmarked non-intersection area.

There were 23 instances of vehicles yielding to pedestrians. In 16 cases, pedestrians were in the marked intersection during the walk phase. In the remaining seven instances, vehicles yielded to pedestrians crossing in an unmarked non-intersection.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

Only a single evasive pedestrian action was recorded at Location 17. During the don’t walk phase of in the marked intersection, a pedestrian was recorded as running/accelerated walking.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

There was a single recorded evasive vehicle action at Location 17. In this case, the vehicle abruptly stopped for a pedestrian crossing in the marked intersection during the walk phase.

Table 35. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 17.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 18

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 786 pedestrian crossings on Irving Street Northwest between 14th Street Northwest and Hiatt Place Northwest. (See table 36 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 661 (or 84.10 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, 574 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional 33 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, 54 crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, 43 began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional 11 began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the walk phase.

At Location 18, 125 (or 15.90 percent) of the total 786 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 98 took place with traffic, and 26 took place against traffic. In a single case, a pedestrian began crossing in the unmarked non-intersection with traffic and ended against traffic.

Yielding:

In total, 12 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles) were recorded at Location 18. In all 12 instances, vehicles yielded to pedestrians in an unmarked non-intersection area.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of four pedestrians took evasive actions at Location 18; all involved running/accelerated walking. In all four instances, pedestrians were recorded as running/ accelerated walking while crossing at and unmarked non-intersection location.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 18.

Table 36. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 18.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 19

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 84 pedestrian crossings on Wisconsin Avenue between Willard Street and Western Avenue. (See table 37 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 81 (or 96.43 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, 73 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. In addition, eight crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, seven began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional one crossing began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the walk phase.

At Location 19, 3 (or 3.57 percent) of the total 84 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, one took place with traffic, and one took place against traffic. In a single case, a pedestrian began crossing in the unmarked non-intersection against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were 11 yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles) recorded at Location 19. In all 11 instances, vehicles yielded to pedestrians in the marked intersection during the walk phase.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

No evasive pedestrian actions were recorded at Location 19.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 19.

Table 37. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 19.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Location 20

Total Crossings:

There were a total of 89 pedestrian crossings on Clarendon Boulevard between North Edgewood Street and North Fillmore Street. (See table 38 for a summary of these crossings.) Of these crossings, 73 (or 82.02 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, 38 pedestrians crossed in the marked intersection. An additional 20 crossings occurred in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In addition, 15 crossings occurred in the marked intersection that included a traffic flow change. Of these crossings, two began in the walk phase and ended in the don’t walk phase. An additional 13 crossings began in the don’t walk phase and concluded in the “walk phase.”

At Location 20, 16 (or 17.98 percent) of the total 89 crossings took place at the unmarked non-intersection areas. Of these, 3 took place with traffic, and 11 took place against traffic. In two instances, pedestrians began crossing in the unmarked non-intersection against traffic and ended with traffic.

Yielding:

In total, there were two yielding behaviors (combined across pedestrians and vehicles) recorded at Location 20. In both instances, pedestrians yielded to vehicles while crossing in the unmarked non-intersection area.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions:

A total of four evasive pedestrian actions were recorded at Location 20. In a single instance, a pedestrian abruptly stopped while crossing in an unmarked non-intersection area. The remaining three evasive actions involved running/accelerated walking. In one instance, the pedestrian accelerated in the marked intersection during the don’t walk phase. In the remaining two cases, pedestrians were seen running/accelerated walking in unmarked non-intersection areas.

Evasive Vehicle Actions:

No evasive vehicle actions were recorded at Location 20.

Table 38. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 20.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Predictive Model

It was hoped that the results of this study might be used to develop a model that would predict whether a pedestrian would cross at a marked intersection or an unmarked non-intersection based on the features of the environment. However, based on the results of the first eight cameras in phase 1 (and similarly low percentages of non-intersection crossings), another predictive modeling attempt was not made for locations 16–20. Instead, a model is presented in the next section that included data from all three data collection phases.

Factor-Specific Analyses

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

Crossing Location

Table 39 summarizes the percentage of pedestrians, by location, who crossed at a marked intersection and unmarked non-intersection. The percentage of each type of crossing is presented at each location. For example, at Location 19, 86.90 percent of the total crossings took place in the marked intersection during the walk phase. When the raw values at all locations are combined, the percentage of pedestrians who crossed at the marked intersection is 86.13. The mean percentage of pedestrians crossing at each of the five locations is 87.98 in the marked intersection. None of the locations are outliers.

Table 39. Percentage of pedestrians at each crossing area in each data collection location.

    — Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Pedestrian Yielding

Table 40 summarizes the percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles within each crossing type. As an example, at Location 17, of the 165 total crossings made in the marked intersection during the walk phase, 12 pedestrians yielded to vehicles. This is the equivalent of 7.27 percent of the total crossings in this specific crossing type. The mean percentage of pedestrians yielding to vehicles across each of the five locations is 1.86. 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 1.30. If all of the locations are compared with one another, none are outliers (even though Location 17 is the only non-zero value).

Next, the mean percentage of pedestrians who yielded to vehicles in unmarked non-intersections was examined. Overall, the mean percentage of yielding was 5.08. No outliers exist here. In other words, when looking at these five locations alone, none are significantly different in 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(4) = -1.56, p > .05. Pedestrian yielding that took place in crossings that occurred within the marked intersection entirely during the walk phase (M = 1.45 percent) were compared with all other crossings (M = 2.20 percent). No significant difference was found, t(4) = -.71, p > .05.

Table 40. 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 41 summarizes the percentage of vehicles that yielded to pedestrians within each crossing area at each location. As an example, at Location 16, there were 23 instances of vehicles yielding to pedestrians crossing in the walk phase in the marked intersection. This is 23.71 percent of the 232 total walk phase crossings in this location.

The overall percentages of crossings that involved a vehicle yielding to a pedestrian were compared across locations. The mean percentage of crossings that involved vehicle yielding was 9.04. None of the locations were considered to be outliers. 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 5.57. None of the locations were considered to be outliers.

Next, the mean percentage of vehicles that yielded to pedestrians in unmarked non-intersections was examined. Overall, the mean percentage of yielding was 7.56. No outliers exist here. In other words, when looking at these five locations alone, none are significantly different for the proportion of drivers who 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(4) = .234, p > .05. Uniquely, in these five locations, the only instances of vehicles yielding to pedestrians in the marked intersection occurred during the walk light phase. Vehicle yielding to pedestrians that crossed within the marked intersection entirely during the walk phase (M = 9.69 percent) were compared with all other crossings (M = 4.30 percent). No significant difference was found, t(4) =
1.08, p > .05.

Table 41. Percentage of vehicles yielding to pedestrians in 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. However, because of the infrequency of observed yielding in phase 3, it is not explored further here. However, a comparison of all 20 locations is examined later.

Evasive Pedestrian Actions

Table 42 summarizes the percentage of pedestrian evasive actions within each crossing area at each of the data collection locations. The three types of evasive actions (running/accelerated walking, abrupt stopping, and directional change) were combined to obtain a better overall perspective on pedestrian evasive actions.

The percentages of crossings that involved pedestrian evasive actions were compared across locations. The mean percentage of crossings that involved a pedestrian evasive action was 1.95. 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 4.39. No outliers exist here. In other words, when looking at these five 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. No significant difference between the two locations was found, t(4) = -.818, p > .05. Interestingly, none of the pedestrian evasive actions took place during the walk phase in the marked intersection. Pedestrian evasive actions that took place in crossings that occurred within the marked intersection entirely during the walk phase (M = 0.00 percent) were compared with all other crossings (M = 7.28 percent). No significant difference was found, t(4) = -1.57, p > .05.

Table 42. Percentage of pedestrian evasive actions in each crossing area at each data collection location.

— Indicates no actions of this type were recorded.

Evasive Vehicle Actions

Table 43 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 17 was the only location where evasive actions were observed. As a result, no further analyses were completed.

Table 43. Percentage of vehicle evasive actions in 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.