The light is red: Uncertainty behaviours displayed by pedestrians during illegal road crossing.

Road accidents involving pedestrians are a reality of urban life. Pedestrian risk is now well known and documented from the perspective of drivers. However, pedestrian behaviour plays a central role in road accidents, notably in terms of illegal road crossing at signalized intersections. This study focuses on pedestrians crossing illegally at a signal light, and specifically investigates uncertainty behaviour, also referred to as hesitation, which occurs when a pedestrian slows down or stops his/her crossing movement then (1) abandons the crossing by returning to the kerb or (2) accelerates to cross the road more quickly. We sought to understand the causes of this behaviour in France and Japan, two countries where interesting differences have already been demonstrated in the way pedestrians behave. The results show a longer period of uncertainty for pedestrians in Japan compared to France. Japanese pedestrians also hesitated longer when they were alone. This study demonstrates a tendency to speed up if there are a number of pedestrians already crossing the road, but abandoning behaviours were more frequently observed than acceleration. This study confirms that pedestrians may misevaluate the moment to cross and hesitate when they realise that they have made a mistake, thus increasing the risk of an accident. These results could help to find solutions that prevent illegal and dangerous road-crossing behaviours.

Drivers are blamed more than their automated cars when both make mistakes.

When an automated car harms someone, who is blamed by those who hear about it? Here we asked human participants to consider hypothetical cases in which a pedestrian was killed by a car operated under shared control of a primary and a secondary driver and to indicate how blame should be allocated. We find that when only one driver makes an error, that driver is blamed more regardless of whether that driver is a machine or a human. However, when both drivers make errors in cases of human-machine shared-control vehicles, the blame attributed to the machine is reduced. This finding portends a public under-reaction to the malfunctioning artificial intelligence components of automated cars and therefore has a direct policy implication: allowing the de facto standards for shared-control vehicles to be established in courts by the jury system could fail to properly regulate the safety of those vehicles; instead, a top-down scheme (through federal laws) may be called for.

Law Accommodating Nonmotorized Road Users and Pedestrian Fatalities in Florida, 1975 to 2013.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of Florida's adoption of Statute 335.065-a law requiring the routine accommodation of nonmotorized road users (i.e., a "Complete Streets" policy)-on pedestrian fatalities and to identify factors influencing its implementation. METHODS: We used a multimethod design (interrupted time-series quasi-experiment and interviews) to calculate Florida's pedestrian fatality rates from 1975 to 2013-39 quarters before and 117 quarters after adoption of the law. Using statistical models, we compared Florida with regional and national comparison groups. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 current and former Florida transportation professionals in 2015. RESULTS: Florida's pedestrian fatality rates decreased significantly-by at least 0.500% more each quarter-after Statute 335.065 was adopted, resulting in more than 3500 lives saved across 29 years. Interviewees described supports and challenges associated with implementing the law. CONCLUSIONS: Florida Statute 335.065 is associated with a 3-decade decrease in pedestrian fatalities. The study also reveals factors that influenced the implementation and effectiveness of the law. Public Health Implications. Transportation policies-particularly Complete Streets policies-can have significant, quantifiable impacts on population health. Multimethod designs are valuable approaches to policy evaluations.

Introducing experiment in pedestrian behaviour and risk perception study at urban level crossing.

Given the high risk of severe accidents at level crossings (LCs), this study examined legal and illegal crossings by pedestrians and cyclists at a high-traffic LC in Zagreb, Croatia. Survey data and field observations were collected to identify reasons for risky behaviour. Behaviour was observed under normal conditions and in the presence of various safety measures in order to identify measures that can reduce risky behaviour. Results show that the presence of police officer at the LC was most effective at reducing illegal crossings, while the presence of cameras contributes significantly as well, especially after safety educational campaign when illegal crossing decreases for 59.23%. We can assume that in future the improvement regarding human behaviour on LC could be made with cameras on LC and more frequent educational campaigns. This is the first reported use of field survey and video surveillance methods to analyse user behaviour at LCs in Croatia.

Urban street structure and traffic safety.

INTRODUCTION: This paper reports the influence of road type and junction density on road traffic fatality rates in U.S. cities. METHOD: The Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) files were used to obtain fatality rates for all cities for the years 2005-2010. A stratified random sample of 16 U.S. cities was taken, and cities with high and low road traffic fatality rates were compared on their road layout details (TIGER maps were used). Statistical analysis was done to determine the effect of junction density and road type on road traffic fatality rates. RESULTS: The analysis of road network and road traffic crash fatality rates in these randomly selected U.S. cities shows that, (a) higher number of junctions per road length was significantly associated with a lower motor- vehicle crash and pedestrian mortality rates, and, (b) increased number of kilometers of roads of any kind was associated with higher fatality rates, but an additional kilometer of main arterial road was associated with a significantly higher increase in total fatalities. When compared to non-arterial roads, the higher the ratio of highways and main arterial roads, there was an association with higher fatality rates. CONCLUSIONS: These results have important implications for road safety professionals. They suggest that once the road and street structure is put in place, that will influence whether a city has low or high traffic fatality rates. A city with higher proportion of wider roads and large city blocks will tend to have higher traffic fatality rates, and therefore in turn require much more efforts in police enforcement and other road safety measures. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Urban planners need to know that smaller block size with relatively less wide roads will result in lower traffic fatality rates and this needs to be incorporated at the planning stage.

Pedestrian Crosswalk Law: A study of traffic and trajectory factors that affect non-compliance and stopping distance.

Walking is encouraged by many transportation agencies as a sustainable mode that contributes to livable downtowns. Since pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users, safe and comfortable crosswalks are essential to ensure that pedestrian travel becomes an appealing alternative. In this context, the goal of this research is to study the traffic and vehicle trajectory factors that affect crosswalk law compliance and stopping distance from the crosswalk. The results of this research provide new insights into the relationships between traffic conditions, vehicle trajectory, and compliance rates. Results indicate that vehicle origin, vehicle type, stopping at upstream traffic lights, and changes in vehicle speed and headways are key factors to predict pedestrian crosswalk law compliance and stopping behavior; changes in vehicle speed and headways have the highest explanatory power.

Red light violations by adult pedestrians and other safety-related behaviors at signalized crosswalks.

To study human factors linked to red light violations, and more generally to safety-related behaviors at signalized crosswalks, the present study combines the collection of observational data with questionnaires answered by 422 French adult pedestrians. Thirteen behavioral indicators were extracted (12 before and while crossing, and red light violation), and the roles of several demographical, contextual and mobility-associated variables were examined. The results of the stepwise logistic regression analyses carried out on each of the 12 behavioral indicators observed before and while crossing revealed that gender had no major impact, but age did, with more cautious behaviors as pedestrians were older. The three contextual variables (group size, parked vehicles, and traffic density), as four mobility-associated variables (driving and walking experiences, self-reported crossing difficulties and falls in the street) were also found to be important factors in safety-related crossing behaviors. A wider logistic regression analysis, made specifically on red light violations with all behavioral indicators observed before and while crossings and the several demographical, contextual and mobility-associated variables put together, showed that red light violations were mostly affected by current situational factors (group size, parked vehicles) and particularly associated with some behavioral patterns (looking toward the traffic, the ground, the light, running and crossing diagonally). The overall results encourage the development of safer pedestrian infrastructures and engineering countermeasures.