Analysing pedestrian–vehicle conflicts behaviour at urban pedestrian crossings

Pedestrian safety has become a serious problem with the rapid growth of motorised vehicle in transportation system in developing counties. Pedestrians often respond differently to changes in surrounding and traffic conditions. A study was undertaken to investigate pedestrians’ gap acceptance and the parameters affecting their risk-taking behaviours based on time-to-collision and post-encroachment-time indexes. Three signalised intersections and two midblock crossings were selected in Qazvin, Iran. A total of 752 pedestrians were examined by video recording and field observation, and pedestrians’ gap acceptance behaviour was estimated by using binary logit model. Results showed that the average time to collision and post-encroachment time were 4.27 s and 1.44 s, respectively. In addition, the presence of children alongside the older pedestrians led to a less risk-taking crossing. Additionally, pedestrian risk-taking was reduced by increasing both time indexes. Rainy weather also reduced pedestrians’ risk-taking behaviour. Elasticity analysis indicated that parameters such as pedestrians’ conflict with vehicles at the first or second half of the crossings, walking with a child, speed of the approaching vehicle, the crossing type and running while crossing were the most important factors in pedestrian risk-taking.