Impacts of mobile phone distractions on pedestrian crossing behavior at signalized intersections: An observational study in China

Abstract

Nowadays phone distraction has started to become an increasingly recognized phenomenon. This article aims to examine the influences of phone use on pedestrian crossing behavior at signalized intersections in China. Using video recording and manual counting, pedestrian crossing behavior, age, gender, phone use, and waiting time are obtained at four signalized intersections. Totally, 4196 pedestrians are observed in four peak hours. Among them, 328 pedestrians (7.82%) are using their mobile phones, including 162 male pedestrians and 166 female pedestrians. The average phone use rate in different age groups are presented as follows: children (4.49%), youth (10.69%), middle-aged (6.87%), and elderly (1.15%). In terms of the phone using behavior on the crosswalk, age is a significant factor, while gender is not. For the type of violation behavior, the results show that pedestrians who use mobile phones are most likely to be late starters. In addition, some other important results are found: mobile phone use can raise the violation of pedestrian crossing behavior; pedestrians using their phones are more likely to cross on red; and pedestrians using their phones while crossing walk more slowly. Finally, the application significance of this study and some recommendations are provided to improve pedestrian safety.

The hazards of pedestrian mobile-phone use when crossing signalized intersections, Iran (2017); an observational study

“…Using mobile phones has a direct correlation with the incidence of unsafe behavior by pedestrians [7,25,26]. According to the results, mobile-phone use affected pedestrian precautionary behavior.…”

“…In the study by Hatfield & Murphy (2007), they concluded that caution behavior was less common in men than in women, with this difference having been significant at signalized intersections for some passing behaviors, such as crossing the pedestrian signal, looking at the traffic while crossing, completing crossing at the marked pedestrian crossing, and conflict experiences (17). A large number of studies also indicate that men tend to show more risky behavior than women (7,24,26,27). Antic et al (2016) reported that men had a 4.1-time higher chance of showing at least one case of unsafe behavior when crossing the street than women (15).…”

“…However, according to chapter 215 of the Road Traffic Code, which lists the nine-part duties of pedestrians, pedestrians must pass in the widthwise direction only on pedestrian crossings and passageways. Distraction means the process of diverting the attention of individuals from a subject that is restricted or blocked from receiving information (5)(6)(7). 'Pedestrian distraction'', according to Tehran Municipality's Traffic Police Deputy, is the third factor in the intensification of Tehran's (capital of Iran) traffic load, in which pedestrians play a key role.…”

“…'Pedestrian distraction'', according to Tehran Municipality's Traffic Police Deputy, is the third factor in the intensification of Tehran's (capital of Iran) traffic load, in which pedestrians play a key role. In addition, distraction contributes to a large number of pedestrian-vehicle collisions, fatalities, and injuries (1,2,7,8). Distraction potentially increases the risk of vehicle-pedestrian crashes (9).…”

Intelligent Mobility in the City: The Influence of System and Context Factors on Drivers’ Takeover Willingness and Trust in Automated Vehicles

“…Especially the latter has led to an increase in smartphonerelated accidents among pedestrians in recent years (Nasar and Troyer, 2013;Ren et al, 2021). Between 8 (Zhou et al, 2019) and 42% (Wells et al, 2018) of pedestrians were observed to cross the street while using a smartphone depending on the country and observation site, with most studies ranging from 20 to 30% (Vollrath et al, 2019;Solah et al, 2016;Horberry et al, 2019;Thompson et al, 2013;Piazza et al, 2020;Fernandez et al, 2020). Among all smartphone-related activities, a systematic review across 14 studies found that texting has the largest effects on pedestrians' behavior (Simmons et al, 2020).…”