Pedestrian Crossing Behavior at Unsignalized Mid-block Crosswalks around the Primary School

To obtain the laws of pedestrians' crossing behaviors, especially children, this paper analyzes the characteristics of four crossing behaviors (crossing speed, waiting time before crossing, naming across the street, not looking before crossing) of three groups of pedestrians (adults, adult-child pairs, and children alone) at unsignalized mid-block crosswalks. 579 pedestrians are recorded. The data are analyzed by mean, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Chi-Square test. The results show that: 1) pedestrians' crossing speed on the second half of the crosswalk is systematically faster than the first half, 2) children's behaviors are influenced by adults and children rely on their parents; 3) children often feel overwhelmed because of the difficulty judging when and how to cross the street. Children's crossing behavior should be considered when people plan and design the crossing facilities where children may use And it is necessary to improve children's skills of crossing street. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.