Study on impacts of engineering strategies on pedestrian behaviour and perceptions at signalised midblock pedestrian crossings

• Main Author: Lee, Eileen Sze Miang
• Other Authors: Wong Yiik Diew
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering::Transportation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68054
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Midblock crossings are essential for pedestrians to reach the opposite side of the road in a safe manner at midblock areas. Despite the provision of signalised midblock crossing facilities, pedestrian compliancy remains an issue of concern. The aim of this project is to evaluate the impacts of the implementation of two-stage staggered signalised pedestrian crossings at midblock areas on pedestrian behaviours and perceptions. To observe pedestrian behaviours at the different types of crossing, an observation study was done at four different midblock locations, of which two of the locations are two-stage staggered signalised crossings while the other two locations are typical signalised crossings. Questionnaire surveys were also conducted to find out pedestrians’ perceptions of two-stage staggered signalised crossings. The results obtained showed that pedestrians were generally allocated a lesser share of green time as compared to vehicles in a cycle length at all four midblock crossings. Pedestrian non-compliancy at two-stage staggered signalised crossings were generally greater compared to typical signalised crossings. Furthermore, the longer inter-green timings between the stages of a two-stage staggered signalised crossing could be a factor affecting pedestrian compliancy. The survey results also revealed that pedestrians have a greater preference for typical signalised crossings. With these results, measures for mitigating unsafe crossing behaviours at two-stage staggered crossings could be identified and implemented to improve pedestrian safety and pedestrian compliancy at such crossings. While this study focuses only on signalised crossings at midblock locations, the study could be further extended to other types of signalised pedestrian crossings.