Assessment of pedestrian-vehicle interaction on urban roads: a critical review

Thakur, Sourabh; Biswas, Subhadip · 2019 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0013.6162

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Summary

This critical review examines the mutual interactions between pedestrians and vehicular traffic on urban roads, addressing the growing conflicts arising from rapid urbanization and shared road space. The study is motivated by the need to understand how these two modes influence each other’s safety, delay, and efficiency, as they are often studied in isolation. The authors synthesize existing literature to analyze two primary phases: the influence of vehicular traffic on pedestrian movements and the influence of pedestrians on vehicular movements. The review first assesses how traffic characteristics affect pedestrian behavior, specifically focusing on gap acceptance at unsignalized crossings. It finds that pedestrians prioritize the distance of approaching vehicles over their speed when deciding to cross. Increased traffic volume leads to longer waiting times, which often instigates risk-taking behaviors, such as accepting smaller gaps or using "rolling gaps" (adjusting crossing speed and direction). While some studies suggest age and gender influence gap acceptance, others find these factors insignificant. Regarding safety, the review highlights that vehicle speed is a critical determinant of crash severity. Reducing vehicle speeds significantly lowers fatality rates; for instance, a 5 km/h reduction in a 60 km/h zone can reduce pedestrian fatalities by 32%. Conversely, higher speeds drastically increase the probability of severe injury or death, with survival rates dropping from 90% at speeds below 30 km/h to 50% above 45 km/h. The second phase analyzes how pedestrian activities impact vehicular flow. Pedestrians walking along the carriageway or crossing the road force drivers to slow down or change lanes, reducing average traffic speed and road capacity. Empirical models cited in the review indicate that each additional pedestrian walking along the road can reduce average speed by approximately 0.35 km/h. Crossing movements also cause significant delays, with speed reductions ranging from 2 to 7.7 km/h depending on the presence of pedestrians on one or both sides of the road. Furthermore, pedestrian cross-movements can reduce road capacity by 30–37%, although this impact is negligible at low crossing volumes (below 200 pedestrians per hour). The significance of this review lies in its comprehensive synthesis of how pedestrian-vehicle interactions compromise both safety and efficiency. It concludes that the intensity of these interactions varies by region, influenced by local driving cultures and priority regulations. In regions where drivers yield to pedestrians, vehicular flow is more impacted, whereas in regions where drivers do not yield, pedestrian safety and delay are more severely affected. The paper underscores the need for integrated models that account for these mutual influences to improve urban road design and traffic management.

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Topics

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• pedestrian behavior perception
• driver vru interaction