ANALYSIS OF PEDESTRIANS' RISK DURING CROSSING

Abstract

The pedestrians are of prime importance in planning the road facilities as they constitute a notable percent in the traffic and are at a higher vulnerability to accidents if not given any provision. Traffic accidents involving pedestrians have become a major safety problem all over the world, particularly in developing countries. Most of these accidents are occurring at pedestrian crossings. Thus in order to provide proper pedestrian facilities at crossings as well as, to improve their safety while crossing, the pedestrian risk needs to be analysed. Various pedestrian crossing characteristics like accepted gap, safety margin, critical gap and traffic interactions like vehicular conflicts influence the pedestrian risk during crossing. In order to study the above, six study locations based on traffic and road characteristics were selected in major cities of India; Coimbatore, Delhi, Chandigarh and Chennai. Data was collected using video graphic technique. Pedestrian crossing risk was estimated based on accepted gap, safety margin, vehicular conflicts and critical gap. Based on accepted gap, female pedestrians were found having higher risk than male pedestrians. Based on age, old pedestrians risk is found to be higher. The safety margin adopted by the pedestrians during crossing the road is also estimated. Critical gap was estimated from crossing time and gap accepted. Start up delay was also estimated. Pedestrian crossing speeds were estimated for age, gender and group size at all study locations. Finally, relationships among various parameters influencing the risk of a pedestrian are developed.