Vehicle yielding probability estimation model at unsignalized midblock crosswalks in Shanghai, China

Abstract

The vehicle-pedestrian encounter at midblock crosswalks in urban centers is inevitable but the challenge to urban transportation planners is in achieving a balance between traffic flow efficiency and pedestrian safety. Vehicles are expected to yield to pedestrians who have a right of way at the midblock unsignalized crosswalks but, failure to yield causes conflicts that at times are fatal. This study investigated the effect of macroscopic factors on the vehicle yielding. Six environmental factors are considered: temporal gap size, number of traffic lanes, number of waiting pedestrians, position of pedestrian (whether on street kerb or median), traffic flow direction and presence (or absence) of monitoring ePolice. Video Data on six observed variables that influenced vehicle yielding was collected from 13 uncontrolled crosswalk locations in Shanghai city in the Peoples Republic of China. A Logit model with a 95.9% accuracy was developed to describe the vehicle yielding behavior. The results showed that gap size and number of traffic lanes had the highest influence on driver yielding decision and that drivers were more likely to yield if ePolice was present. The sensitivity analysis was conducted and appropriate recommendations on improving the pedestrians crossing safety were proposed accordingly.

Influence of social media influencer authenticity on their followers' perceptions of credibility and their positive word-of-mouth

“…Thus, multivariate normality is assumed (Kline, 1998). The tolerance factor and variance inflation factor (VIF) are used to predict multicollinearity (Malenje et al. , 2019), with a tolerance value lower than 0.1 and a VIF exceeding 10 indicating multicollinearity (Marquardt, 1980).…”

“…Thus, multivariate normality is assumed (Kline, 1998). The tolerance factor and variance inflation factor (VIF) are used to predict multicollinearity (Malenje et al, 2019), with a tolerance value lower than 0.1 and a VIF exceeding 10 indicating multicollinearity (Marquardt, 1980). In this study, the tolerance factors of the variables are all greater than 0.1 (0.320-0.654) and the VIFs are all lower than 10 (1.529-3.127), indicating no notable multivariate collinearity among the predictor variables.…”

Left-Turn Lane Capacity Estimation based on the Vehicle Yielding Maneuver Model to Pedestrians at Signalized Intersections

“…Malenje et al [17] investigated the effects of the macroscopic factors on the vehicle yielding maneuvers at unsignalized midblock crosswalks. The results showed that the gap size and number of traffic lanes highly influenced the yielding decisions of drivers, and they were more likely to yield if e-police were present.…”

Effects of Pedestrians’ Assertiveness on Drivers’ Yielding Behavior at Mid-Block Sections: An Application of Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling

“…Some studies have found that willingness to yield increases when pedestrians wait near the roadway or have already stepped out into the road carriageway ( 4 , 5 , 19 ). The possibility of yielding is even greater if they are crossing the centerline lane in multi-lane crossings rather than near curbside lanes ( 6 ) or are waiting at the median ( 20 ). One of the reasons is that pedestrians are more visible to the drivers and in a vulnerable position when they are far from the curb.…”

“…Fast walking or darting into traffic are also found to encourage drivers to slow down or stop for pedestrians (4,11). In addition, drivers are more likely to yield if there are many pedestrians at the crossing (19)(20)(21)(22). Large pedestrian groups not only increase pedestrian flows but tend to show more aggressive behavior because of a belief in safety in numbers.…”