Crosswalk Confusion

Abstract

Traffic safety researchers have long argued that driver behavior outweighs physical elements (such as road design) as a causal factor in motor vehicle collisions. A fundamental causal component of pedestrian-vehicle collisions is also behavior: that of the driver and that of the pedestrian. One determinant of this behavior may be whether the driver, the pedestrian, or both understand the motor vehicle code, which demarcates the right-of-way in pedestrian-vehicle interactions. That is, inappropriate or unlawful behavior may occur because the law is not understood or is misunderstood. Previous studies have shown that drivers and pedestrians have a limited knowledge of pedestrian right-of-way laws. This research expands on these studies by specifically considering knowledge of right-of-way laws related to marked and unmarked crosswalks. Driver and pedestrian knowledge was assessed by the use of intercept surveys and focus groups conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The results confirm that a substantial level of confusion about pedestrian right-of-way laws exists. This confusion was exacerbated by intersections that had unstriped, or unmarked, crosswalks. The implications for engineering, education, and enforcement countermeasures in light of these findings are discussed; and areas for further research are proposed.

Pedestrian quality of service at unprotected mid-block crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions: towards quantitative approach

“…The study result also show that zebra marked crosswalks have lower category of QOS than the nonzebra crosswalk locations because of the increase in pedestrian-vehicle interaction at zebra crosswalk locations due to ambiguity of driver yield behaviour. Early research studies found that marked crosswalks have lower safety than the non-marked crosswalk locations at uncontrolled crosswalk locations (Zegeer et al 2001;Mitman, Ragland 2007). The driver yield behaviour under mixed traffic conditions in developing countries is quite different when compared with developed countries and it is noticed only when the pedestrians are using the crosswalks or when the pedestrians already reached the vehicular lanes (Kadali, Vedagiri 2013).…”

Examining the Relationships between Multimodal Environments and Multitasking Driving Behaviors

“…and level of separation from driving lanes. Drivers approaching a crosswalk or driving next to a bike lane may not always understand the rules that are applied to a specific configuration or marking ( 11 ). Past studies have used traffic images and network-level videos to examine pedestrian-vehicle interactions ( 12 – 14 ).…”