Analysis of Pedestrian Conflict with Right-Turning Vehicles at Signalized Intersections in India

Abstract

The interaction between pedestrians and right-turning vehicles at a signalized intersection is a usual scenario in urban locations in which both have to share a common space on the road. Due to the rapid growth of vehicular traffic in developing countries such as India, pedestrian–vehicle conflicts are increasing tremendously. This study evaluated pedestrian safety by examining the interaction between pedestrians and right-turning traffic (left-hand driving) at signalized intersections using the traffic conflict technique. Five time-based conflict indicators, namely postencroachment time (PET), time to vehicle (TTV), deceleration to safety time of pedestrians (DSTped), time to accident (TTA), and deceleration to safety time of vehicles (DSTveh) were used to analyze the conflict situation. Four signalized intersections were selected in two cities (Kolkata and New Delhi) of India. For every possible conflict situation, PET, TTV, DSTped, TTA, and DSTveh were estimated and the severity of conflicts was identified based on pedestrian demography and their crossing behavior. The k-means clustering technique was used to classify the conflict indicators into four levels of severity. Silhouette plots were developed to validate the clusters. A binary logistic regression model was developed to identify significant contributing factors to the risk-taking behavior of pedestrians. The model’s results showed that pedestrians’ age, gender, waiting time, and speed; type of crossing; pedestrian with company; the occurrence of conflicts in different quarters of the green interval; and right-turning vehicle volume have a significant effect on the risk-taking behavior of pedestrians. The findings of this study may help to identify various factors that affect pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at signalized intersections.