THESIS ABSTRACT

Abstract

Walking is a widely adopted mode of urban transportation, and pedestrians, being vulnerable road users, require particular attention while crossing road. The study of pedestrian road-crossing behavior is a crucial aspect in the establishment of road crossing facilities. Its importance comes from the huge challenges provided by the interaction of pedestrians and vehicles during crossing scenarios. While previous studies have explored pedestrian crossing behavior at midblock, the comprehensive examination of the potential impacts of gap selection on pedestrian behavior at unsignalized crosswalks within intersections remains relatively unexplored. This study investigates the pedestrian gap selection behavior while crossing road at crosswalk of unsignalized intersection using Binary logistic regression. From the numerical finding it was found that gender, age, pedestrian carrying object in hand, group size, vehicle’s type, crossing pattern, vehicle speed, pedestrian waiting time and pedestrian crossing time influence on shorter gap selection. In this study, female and elderly people prefer longer gap over shorter gap to cross the road safely. The odd of pedestrian choosing longer gap over shorter gap increases as vehicle speed increases. Similarly, pedestrian who do not carry any object in hand and who are alone also prefer shorter gap over longer one. In case of type of vehicles, pedestrian preferred shorter gap over longer gap when vehicles were 2-wheeler as compared to 4/6-wheeler. Similarly, pedestrian who follow In-to-In crossing path (II) and In-to-Out Crossing (IO) over Out-to-In/Out Crossing (OI/O) have likelihood of choosing longer gap in comparison to shorter gap. Therefore, planners can use this knowledge to enhance pedestrian facilities, and encourage responsible crossing practices.

Keywords

Gap size, Binary Logistic Regression, Pedestrian crossing, Unsignalized intersection