Title: Pedestrian speed at signalised crosswalks: analysis and influencing factors

Authors: Wael K.M. Alhajyaseen

Addresses: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, KFUPM Mail Box 402, Dhahran 31261, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Understanding the characteristics of pedestrian speed at intersections is important requirement for improving existing operational policies and for providing rational safety assessments. This study macroscopically investigates the effects of signal timing, pedestrian origin-destination and crosswalk length on pedestrian speed. Three signalised crosswalks in Nagoya City, Japan, are videotaped. A pre-developed video-image processing system is utilised to extract speed data. Pedestrian signal timing is divided into six intervals. Depending on the entering time, each pedestrian is assigned to one of these intervals. Then, entering, exit and travel speeds in different time intervals are estimated and compared. It is concluded that pedestrian entering and travel speeds significantly increase as pedestrian green interval proceeds. Moreover, pedestrians show higher travel speeds at long crosswalks. In high turning traffic demand cases, drivers compete with pedestrians on the right of way, which may force pedestrians to slow down and even stop leading to lower travel speeds.

Keywords: pedestrian speed; crosswalk length; signal timing; turning vehicles; signalised crosswalks; pedestrian lights; road safety; Japan; video image processing; travel speeds; pedestrian crossings.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEME.2015.072562

International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics, 2015 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.258 - 272

Accepted: 21 Apr 2015
Published online: 19 Oct 2015 *

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