Assessing pedestrian behavior: validation of PBS questionnaire in portuguese residents

This study aims to validate the Pedestrian Behaviour of a Portuguese residents’ sample. For this, the questionnaire was published online and disclosed through e-mails and social media for Portuguese residents, being answered by 502 people (318 women and 184 men) between 15 and 64 years old. Principal Component Analyzes differentiated four axes into factors called: 1) “transgression”, which included violations of the rules of the road and legal errors, 2) “lapses”, referring to errors caused by lack of attention, 3) “aggressive behaviours” and 4) “positive behaviours” in relation to other road users. As in the original, a reduced version with 20 items, referring to each factor's four largest factor loads, was developed, and its internal reliability was tested and approved. The effects of demographic variables were investigated. Moreover, the demographic variables could impact the ‘transgression’ item, as seen in the discussion of the results. The instrument helps recognize risk behaviours and adapt user preventive actions.