Using connected vehicle technology to deliver timely warnings to pedestrians.

Kearney, Joseph K.; Plumert, Jodie M. · 2016 · ROSA P / Safety Research Using Simulation (SAFER-SIM) University Transportation Center

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Summary

This study addresses the rising rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities in the U.S., particularly among distracted pedestrians using mobile devices. While mobile device use is known to impair road-crossing behavior, effective interventions remain unclear. The researchers investigated whether Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) connected vehicle technology could mitigate these risks by delivering permissive traffic warnings to pedestrians via smartphones. The goal was to determine if providing information about safe crossing gaps could improve the safety of pedestrians who are otherwise distracted by texting. The experiment utilized a large-screen, immersive virtual environment simulator that allowed participants to physically walk across a simulated one-lane road with traffic. The study employed a between-subjects design with 48 undergraduate participants divided into three groups: a control group (holding a phone but not texting), a texting group (actively texting), and an alert group (texting while receiving V2P alerts). The alert system provided a countdown clock and audible notification when a safe traffic gap (4.0 or 4.5 seconds) was approaching. Researchers measured gap selection, movement timing, time to spare, collision rates, and gaze direction using motion capture and head-tracking data. The results indicated that texting significantly impaired pedestrian safety compared to the control group. Texting participants selected smaller gaps and had less time to spare when exiting the roadway. However, the alert group performed similarly to the control group in terms of safety margins. By receiving alerts, texting pedestrians chose larger, safer gaps, which compensated for their poorer entry timing relative to the lead vehicle. Consequently, the alert group achieved a margin of safety that did not differ significantly from the non-texting control group. Despite this improvement in safety outcomes, the alert group relied heavily on the technology and paid significantly less attention to the roadway itself compared to the other groups. The findings demonstrate that V2P communication technology has the potential to mitigate the risks associated with distracted pedestrian crossing by guiding gap selection. However, the study also highlights a critical pitfall: reliance on assistive technology may lead to reduced situational awareness and attention to the physical environment. The research suggests that while such systems can improve immediate safety metrics, they may alter pedestrian behavior in ways that depend on continuous technological support, raising questions about long-term efficacy and user dependency.

Key finding

Pedestrians receiving permissive traffic alerts via mobile devices selected larger gaps and achieved safety margins similar to non-distracted pedestrians, though they exhibited reduced attention to the roadway.

Methodology

simulator

Sample size: 48

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• pedestrian behavior perception
• vru facing ehmi
• ehmi external hmi
• driver vru interaction

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: observational prevalence