Pedestrian Speed at Signalised Crosswalks: Analysis and Influencing Factors

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Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
International Journal of Engineering Management and Economics (IJEME), Vol. 5, No. 3/4, 2015
Year of Publication: 
2015
Authors: 
Wael Alhajyaseen
Current Affiliation: 
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, An-Najah National University, Nablus. Palestine
Preferred Abstract (Original): 

Understanding the characteristics of pedestrian speed at intersections is important requirement for improving existing operational policies and for providing rational safety assessments. This study macroscopically investigates the effects of signal timing, pedestrian origin-destination and crosswalk length on pedestrian speed. Three signalised crosswalks in Nagoya City, Japan, are videotaped. A pre-developed video-image processing system is utilised to extract speed data. Pedestrian signal timing is divided into six intervals. Depending on the entering time, each pedestrian is assigned to one of these intervals. Then, entering, exit and travel speeds in different time intervals are estimated and compared. It is concluded that pedestrian entering and travel speeds significantly increase as pedestrian green interval proceeds. Moreover, pedestrians show higher travel speeds at long crosswalks. In high turning traffic demand cases, drivers compete with pedestrians on the right of way, which may force pedestrians to slow down and even stop leading to lower travel speeds.