Street crossing behavior in younger and older pedestrians: an eye- and head-tracking study

Abstract

BackgroundCrossing a street can be a very difficult task for older pedestrians. With increased age and potential cognitive decline, older people take the decision to cross a street primarily based on vehicles’ distance, and not on their speed. Furthermore, older pedestrians tend to overestimate their own walking speed, and could not adapt it according to the traffic conditions. Pedestrians’ behavior is often tested using virtual reality. Virtual reality presents the advantage of being safe, cost-effective, and allows using standardized test conditions.MethodsThis paper describes an observational study with older and younger adults. Street crossing behavior was investigated in 18 healthy, younger and 18 older subjects by using a virtual reality setting. The aim of the study was to measure behavioral data (such as eye and head movements) and to assess how the two age groups differ in terms of number of safe street crossings, virtual crashes, and missed street crossing opportunities. Street crossing behavior, eye and head movements, in older and younger subjects, were compared with non-parametric tests.ResultsThe results showed that younger pedestrians behaved in a more secure manner while crossing a street, as compared to older people. The eye and head movements analysis revealed that older people looked more at the ground and less at the other side of the street to cross.ConclusionsThe less secure behavior in street crossing found in older pedestrians could be explained by their reduced cognitive and visual abilities, which, in turn, resulted in difficulties in the decision-making process, especially under time pressure.Decisions to cross a street are based on the distance of the oncoming cars, rather than their speed, for both groups. Older pedestrians look more at their feet, probably because of their need of more time to plan precise stepping movement and, in turn, pay less attention to the traffic. This might help to set up guidelines for improving senior pedestrians’ safety, in terms of speed limits, road design, and mixed physical-cognitive trainings.

Incidence of fatalities of road traffic accidents associated with alcohol consumption and the use of psychoactive drugs: A 7-year survey�(2011-2017)

“…Accordingly, Kaimila et al (52) in Japan, and Rolison et al (53) in the United Kingdom, reported that elderly pedestrians were more susceptible to road traffic accidents when compared to younger individuals. According to the studies by Zito et al (54) in Switzerland, Cicchino and McCartt (55) and Doroudgar et al (56) in the USA, the main cause seemed to be a consequence of the aging process, which leads to a decrease in balance, hearing, vision, reaction time, muscle mass and bone mass in older individuals.…”

Making Sense of Real-World Scenes

“…For instance, some of the most commonly fixated obstacles when moving through an environment are people [59], who are generally fixated at a distance to determine their heading and avoid collisions [55,59]. Similarly, eye movements are made to gauge the distance of approaching objects [e.g., a car, 60]. Viewers also sample ground information in a goal-driven manner, directing fixations ahead to check for changing terrain, as well as to closer regions that will be stepped on, and surface transitions to avoid [e.g., a curb, 61].…”

The Influence of Noise Emitted by Vehicles on Pedestrian Crossing Decision-Making: A Study in a Virtual Environment

“…These values (Table 1) were used as a reference to define the vehicles' trajectories to be used in the simulator. Contrary to other studies that usually assume constant speed (e.g., [19,20,22,[26][27][28][29]), the three types of speed profiles recorded in the observational study were implemented in the simulator. Speeds above 30 km/h were not considered since the study intended to evaluate the pedestrians' crossing decision-making, considering the approach of a vehicle at short distances from the crosswalk.…”