Evaluation of Pedestrian-Vehicle Conflict Severity at Unprotected Midblock Crosswalks in India

Promoting and creating proper facilities for nonmotorized (pedestrian and bicycle) trips is very important in an urban transportation system to enhance pedestrian safety. Pedestrian-vehicle conflicts on urban roads are increasing, particularly at road crossings, because of the tremendous rate of growth in vehicle traffic in developing countries. Accident statistics clearly indicate the need to improve pedestrian safety and to analyze the pedestrian-vehicle interactions and collisions more deeply. This study analyzed the severity of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at unprotected midblock crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions. The pedestrian-vehicle conflicts were considered on the basis of a pedestrian safety margin, which can be defined as the time difference between the time gap of an approaching vehicle and the pedestrian crossing time. For this purpose, field surveys were conducted at eight unprotected midblock crosswalk locations. Data such as pedestrian demographics and behavioral, traffic, vehicle, and roadway characteristics were considered to analyze the severity of the pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. The study identified the significant contributing factors in such conflicts by using an ordered probit model. The model's results show that rolling behavior, pedestrian speed change condition, land use type, and vehicle speed have a significant effect on the severity of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. The findings of this study contribute to developing traffic countermeasures to reduce the severity of pedestrian-vehicle conflict levels in order to improve pedestrian safety at unprotected midblock crosswalk locations under mixed traffic conditions. More studies at various unprotected midblock crosswalk locations would be useful to develop guidelines for redesigning the existing midblock crosswalk facilities by introducing suitable traffic control measures.