REPORT

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Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-13-098 Date: January 2014

Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-13-098
Date: January 2014

Human Factors Assessment of Pedestrian Roadway Crossing Behavior

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FOREWORD

More than half of pedestrian fatalities occur at unmarked locations away from intersections. However, little research has been conducted to understand why pedestrians cross roadways at unmarked locations. As a result, this study sought to better understand the environmental influences on both where and when pedestrians elect to cross the road. This report examines more than 70,000 pedestrian crossings at 20 different locations. The circumstances of those crossings (pedestrians yielding to vehicles, vehicles yielding to pedestrians, and evasive actions) were documented and analyzed. A model using environmental factors as inputs is provided to predict where (marked crosswalk intersection or outside the marked crosswalk) pedestrians will cross the road.

This report may be of interest to roadway designers, traffic engineers, and researchers who are concerned with the safety of pedestrian crossings at unmarked locations.

Monique Evans
Director, Office of Safety
Research and Development

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

Technical Documentation Page

1. Report No.

FHWA-HRT-13-098

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient’s Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

Human Factors Assessment of Pedestrian Roadway Crossing Behavior

5. Report Date

January 2014

6. Performing Organization Code:

7. Author(s)

Stacy A. Balk, Mary Anne Bertola, Jim Shurbutt, and Ann Do

8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

SAIC
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101-2296

10. Work Unit No.

TRAIS

11. Contract or Grant No.

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave. S.E.
Washington, DC 20590-9898

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

15. Supplementary Notes

The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) was C.Y. David Yang.

16. Abstract

Pedestrian–vehicle crashes are both common and deadly. The majority of pedestrian fatalities occur outside marked intersection crosswalks. The influences of pedestrian and environmental factors on crossing location choice were examined. A literature review covering factors intrinsic to pedestrians is provided. In addition, pedestrian crossings at 20 different locations were recorded and analyzed. The vast majority of crossings (89 percent of the total observed) took place in the marked intersection crosswalks. Drivers are likely to yield to pedestrians. However, while drivers are more likely to yield to pedestrians in the marked crosswalk, pedestrians and vehicles are equally as likely to yield to one another outside the marked crosswalk. The data also suggest that measures that reduce the perceived affordances to cross the roadway (e.g., flowerbeds that separate the sidewalk from the roadway) also reduce the proportion of crossings outside the marked crosswalks. It also appears that pedestrians cross when perceived control of the crossing is greatest. Measures to increase perceived control have the potential to increase (e.g., visible countdown clocks) or decrease (e.g., large medians) crossings in the marked crosswalk. A model to predict pedestrian crossing location is provided. The model uses various environmental variables as predicting factors and was shown to successfully predict an average of 90 percent of the crossings.

17. Key Words

Pedestrian, crosswalk, midblock crossings, safety, human factors assessment

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through NTIS: National Technical Information Service
5301 Shawnee Road, Alexandria, VA 22312

19. Security Classif. (of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classif. (of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages

218

22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)

Reproduction of completed page authorized

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

Executive summary

Introduction

Pedestrian factors

Gender

Age

Alcohol

Self-Identity

Perceived Control

Environmental factors

Trip Originators

Trip Destinations

Affordances

Pedestrian Crossing Behaviors: Phase 1

Data Collection Locations

Location 1

Location 2

Location 3

Location 4

Location 5

Location 6

Location 7

Location 8

Data collection validation

Pedestrian Crossing Behaviors: Phase 2

Data Collection Locations

Location 9

Location 10

Location 11

Location 12

Location 13

Location 14

Location 15

Data collection validation

Video data coding

Crossing Factors

Dates/Times Coded

Results

Descriptive Data

Predictive Model

Factor-Specific Analyses

Discussion

Crossing Location

Pedestrian Yielding

Vehicle Yielding

Yielding Comparison

Evasive Pedestrian Actions

Evasive Vehicle Actions

General Discussion

Pedestrian Crossing Behaviors: Phase 3

Data Collection Locations

Location 16

Location 17

Location 18

Location 19

Location 20

Data coding

Crossing Factors

Dates/Times Coded

Results

Descriptive Data

Predictive Model

Factor-Specific Analyses

Discussion

Pedestrian Crossing Behaviors: Combined Results

Full Dataset

Crossing Proportions

Discussion

Pedestrian Factors

Environmental Factors

Summary

References

List of figures

Figure 1. Graph. Total number of pedestrian fatalities, number of urban intersection/ intersection-related fatalities, and number of urban non-intersection fatalities in daytime environments by year

Figure 2. Photo. Aerial view of Location 1

Figure 3. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 1 camera

Figure 4. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the north side of H Street Northeast to the south side of the street along 3rd Street Northeast

Figure 5. Photo. Aerial view of Location 2

Figure 6. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 2 camera

Figure 7. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the north side of New York Avenue Northwest to the south side of the street along 7th Street Northwest.

Figure 8. Photo. Aerial view of Location 3. Northwest between 7th and 6th Streets
Northwest

Figure 9. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 3 camera

Figure 10. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the north side of Rhode Island Avenue Northwest to the south side of the street along 7th Street Northwest

Figure 11. Photo. Aerial view of Location 4

Figure 12. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 4 camera

Figure 13. Photo. Image of the westernmost crossing of I Street Northwest at 13th Street Northwest. The photo is taken from the southwestern corner of the intersection

Figure 14. Photo. Aerial view of Location 5

Figure 15. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 5 camera

Figure 16. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the south side of H Street Northwest to the north side of the street along 14th Street Northwest

Figure 17. Photo. Aerial view of Location 6

Figure 18. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 6 camera

Figure 19. Photo. An image of the southernmost crossing of 14th Street Northwest at New York Avenue Northwest. The photo is taken from the northwestern corner of the intersection

Figure 20. Photo. Aerial view of Location 7

Figure 21. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 7 camera

Figure 22. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to crossing from the west side of 19th Street Northwest to the east side of the street along Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest

Figure 23. Photo. Aerial view of Location 8

Figure 24. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 8 camera

Figure 25. Photo. An image of the (far) flag crossing at Connecticut Avenue Northwest and Northampton Street Northwest

Figure 26. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the west side of Connecticut Avenue Northwest to the east side of the street along Oliver Street Northwest

Figure 27. Photo. Aerial view of Location 9

Figure 28. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 9 camera

Figure 29. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the west side of Connecticut Avenue Northwest to the east side of the street along Florida Avenue Northwest

Figure 30. Photo. Aerial view of Location 10

Figure 31. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 10 camera

Figure 32. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the west side of Connecticut Avenue Northwest to the east side of the street along Van Ness Street Northwest

Figure 33. Photo. Aerial view of Location 11

Figure 34. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 11 camera

Figure 35. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the west side of Georgia Avenue Northwest to the east side of the street along Arkansas Avenue Northwest

Figure 36. Photo. Aerial view of Location 12

Figure 37. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 12 camera

Figure 38. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the east side of Georgia Avenue Northwest to the west side of the street along Irving Street Northwest

Figure 39. Photo. Aerial view of Location 13

Figure 40. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 13 camera

Figure 41. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the north side of H Street Northwest to the south side of the street along Connecticut Avenue Northwest

Figure 42. Photo. Aerial view of Location 14

Figure 43. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 14 camera

Figure 44. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the north side of Independence Avenue Southwest to the south side of the
street along Washington Avenue Southwest

Figure 45. Photo. Aerial view of Location 15

Figure 46. Photo. Still image captured from the Location 15 camera

Figure 47. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to make a crossing from the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast to the north side of the street along 8th Street Southeast

Figure 48. Photo. Aerial view of Location 16

Figure 49. Photo. Illustration of some of the foliage present in the median of North Washington Street

Figure 50. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the east side to the west side of North Washington Street along King Street

Figure 51. Photo. Aerial view of Location 17

Figure 52. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the south side to the north side of King Street along North Washington Street

Figure 53. Photo. Aerial view of location 18

Figure 54. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the north side to the south side of Irving Street Northwest along 14th Street Northwest in Washington DC

Figure 55. Photo. Aerial view of location 19

Figure 56. Photo. View of the planters located between the southbound lanes of traffic and the adjacent sidewalk along Wisconsin Avenue

Figure 57. Photo. Illustration of some of the foliage and elevation present in the median of Wisconsin Avenue

Figure 58. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the west side to the east side of Wisconsin Avenue along Willard Avenue

Figure 59. Photo. Aerial view of Location 20

Figure 60. Photo. Illustration of what a pedestrian might see as he or she attempts to cross from the south side to the north side of Clarendon Boulevard along North Edgewood Street

Figure 61. Chart. Distribution of all crossings observed across the 20 different locations by the area in which they took place

Figure 62. Chart. Distribution of crossings observed across all 20 locations in the marked intersections by circumstances of the crossing

Figure 63. Chart. Distribution of crossings observed across all 20 locations in the unmarked non-intersections by the circumstances of the crossing

Figure 64. Chart. Distribution of crossings observed across all 20 locations for all rule-breaking crossings by the circumstances of the crossing (including those in the unmarked non-intersections)

Figure 65. Chart. Distribution of crossings observed across all 20 locations for crossings made entirely during the walk light phase in the marked intersections, by the circumstances of the crossing

Figure 66. Chart. Distribution of crossings observed across all 20 locations for rule-breaking crossings in marked intersections (i.e., crossings that took place at least partially during the don’t walk light phase) by the circumstances of the crossing

Figure 67. Chart. Scatterplot of each location’s score for each of the five factors against the percentage of intersection crossings at that location

Figure 68. Equation. The logit of crossing at the intersection

Figure 69. Chart. Scatterplot of each location’s score for each of the five factors against the percentage of intersection crossings at that location

Figure 70. Equation. The logit of crossing at the intersection during the walk phase

List of tables

Table 1. Relevant sunrise, sunset, and weather for each of the coded data collection days

Table 2. Summary of pedestrian crossings combined across all eight data collection
locations

Table 3. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 1

Table 4. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 2

Table 5. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 3

Table 6. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 4

Table 7. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 5

Table 8. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 6

Table 9. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 7

Table 10. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 8

Table 11. Predictors and their respective descriptions used for the models

Table 12. Summary of each of the model-selected effects (predictors) and their parameter estimates

Table 13. Percentage of pedestrians at each crossing area in each data collection location

Table 14. Percentage of pedestrians yielding to vehicles in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 15. Percentage of vehicles yielding to pedestrians within each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 16. Percentage of pedestrian evasive actions in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 17. Percentage of vehicle evasive actions within each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 18. Relevant sunrise, sunset, and weather for each of the coded data collection days

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

Table 20. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 9

Table 21. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 10

Table 22. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 11

Table 23. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 12

Table 24. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 13

Table 25. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 14

Table 26. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 15

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

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

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

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

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

Table 32. Relevant sunrise, sunset, and weather for each of the coded data collection days

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

Table 34. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 16

Table 35. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 17

Table 36. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 18

Table 37. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 19

Table 38. Summary of pedestrian crossings at Location 20

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

Table 40. Percentage of pedestrians yielding to vehicles in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 41. Percentage of vehicles yielding to pedestrians in each crossing area at each data collection location

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

Table 43. Percentage of vehicle evasive actions in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 44. Summary of pedestrian crossing locations and their associated environmental factors that were assessed on a continuous scale

Table 45. Summary of pedestrian crossing locations and their associated environmental factors that were assessed on a categorical scale

Table 46. Environmental factors and their labels used to calculate the crossing location prediction model

Table 47. Factor loadings for the 16 environmental variables

Table 48. Standardized scoring coefficients for the five rotated factors

Table 49. Probabilities of correctly predicting a crossing at the marked intersection or the unmarked non-intersection by location and the corresponding upper and lower 95-percent confidence limits

Table 50. Probabilities of correctly predicting a crossing at the marked intersection entirely during the walk phase by location and the corresponding upper and lower 95‑percent confidence limits

Table 51. Percentage of pedestrians crossing at each area in each data collection location

Table 52. Percentage of pedestrians yielding to vehicles in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 53. Percentage of vehicles yielding to pedestrians in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 54. Percentage of pedestrian evasive actions in each crossing area at each data collection location

Table 55. Percentage of vehicle evasive actions in each crossing area at each data collection location

Page Owner: Office of Research, Development, and Technology, Office of Safety, RDT

Topics: research, safety
Keywords: research, safety, Pedestrian, crosswalk, midblock crossings, safety, human factors assessment
TRT Terms: research, Safety and security, Safety, Transportation safety
Scheduled Update: Archive - No Update needed

This page last modified on 05/15/2018

Human Factors Assessment of Pedestrian Roadway Crossing Behavior

FOREWORD

Technical Documentation Page

Table of Contents

List of figures

List of tables