Evaluating the effects of external factors on pedestrian violations at signalized intersections (a case study of Mashhad, Iran)

Abstract

One of the most critical reasons for accidents involving pedestrians in signalized urban intersections is their violations regarding running red lights. Therefore, studying the essential factors in this issue is of interest to researchers. This research aims to evaluate the external factors affecting the pedestrians' violation, specifically, factors regarding the geometrical design and traffic situation. Cameras recorded the behavior of 1590 pedestrians in 10 crosswalks of 6 intersections in Mashhad. Afterward, the effect of 12 distinct variables for each pedestrian was assessed. To analyze the data, SPSS was used in combination with binary logistic regression. Out of the nine variables participated in the model, “traffic volume”, “the number of violators”, “length of the crosswalk”, “red light duration”, and “physical movement problems” affect the pedestrians' decision to comply with or violate a red light. The analysis shows that with an increasing number of vehicles, the probability of violation would reduce by 9.5%. Moreover, if the number of other violating pedestrians grows, the probability of violation would increase significantly. The increase of one unit in “length of the crosswalk”, would result in a violation reduction of 13.9%. Also, if the pedestrian suffers from physical disabilities, the probability of violation decreases by 78.6%. On the other hand, the growth of one unit in “red light duration” would increase the violations by pedestrians 2.2%.