Assessing the Effect of Pedestrians' Use of Cell Phones on Their Walking Behavior: A Study Based on Automated Video Analysis

The objective of the study is to assess the effect of the use of cell phones while walking at urban crosswalks. The methodology uses recent findings in health science concerning the relationship between tempo-spatial characteristics of gait and the cognitive abilities of pedestrians. Gait measures are shown to be affected by the complexity of the task (e.g., talking and texting) performed during walking. This study focuses on the effect of distraction states, distraction types (visual such as texting/reading and auditory such as talking/listening), and pedestrian-vehicle interactions on the gait parameters of pedestrians at crosswalks. Experiments are performed on a video data set near a college campus in the city of Kamloops, British Columbia. The analysis relies on automated video-based data collection using a computer vision technique. The benefits of such an automated system include the ability to capture the natural movement of pedestrians and minimizing the risk of disturbing their behavior. Results show that pedestrians distracted by texting/reading (visually) or talking/listening (auditory) while walking tend to reduce and control their walking speed by adjusting their step length or step frequency, respectively. Pedestrians distracted by texting/reading (visually) have significantly lower step length and are less stable in walking. Distracted pedestrians involved in interactions with approaching vehicles tend to reduce and control their walking speeds by adjusting their step frequencies. This research can find applications in pedestrian facility design, modeling and calibrating pedestrian simulations, and pedestrian safety intervention programs and legislative actions.