Driver-pedestrian interaction under legal and illegal pedestrian crossings

Pedestrian crossing outside of a zebra crossing (jaywalking) is one of those pedestrian behaviors that may highly affect safety and operations. Unlike permissible crossings at zebra crossings, jaywalking events are not often anticipated by drivers, which may result in less driver reaction time and different vehicle operation dynamics. The objective of the research was to study driver’s behavior as well as to model the interaction with a pedestrian, who was crossing at and outside (jaywalker) of designated zebra crossings. Data were collected through an instrumented vehicle study. Sixteen participants took part in the survey. Each participant's vehicle was instrumented with a video camera and a global positioning system (GPS) device. Each participant drove his vehicle along two streets of the center of Rome, during which numerous events of crossings at and outside the zebra crossing were detected. The acquired data allowed obtaining the driver’s speed profiles in approach to the pedestrian crossing. The analysis was based on variables that were obtained from the speed profiles of drivers. The driver’s behavior under legal and illegal crossings was analyzed in terms of driver yielding rates and yielding types, relationship between speed and distance of the vehicle from the conflict point at the decision point, and for different times left for the vehicle to get to the conflict point at the moment the pedestrian reaches the curb as well as pedestrian origin (form the right or left). Significant differences were detected in driver’s behavior during the interaction with the pedestrian crossing at and outside of the zebra crossing. The main results highlighted that the average yield rate to jaywalkers was lower than that to pedestrians at permissible crossings, the average deceleration rates were higher in the case of illegal crossing and driver yielding decision point to jaywalkers was closer to the conflict point. The obtained results provide the basis for modeling interactions between pedestrians crossing at and outside of crosswalks and approaching drivers in a micro-simulation environment