Studies from Shaanxi Normal University Update Current Data on Risk Management (Cross or wait? Pedestrian decision making during clearance phase at…

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Studies from Shaanxi Normal University Update Current Data on Risk Management (Cross or wait? Pedestrian decision making during clearance phase at signalized intersections)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Shaanxi, People's Republic of China, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Pedestrians arriving at clearance phase (Flashing Don't Walk) face different levels of risk depending on behavioral choice afterwards. However, few studies have focused on the choices pedestrians make during this phase."

Financial supporters for this research include Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Shaanxi Normal University, "This field study analyzed pedestrian choices after arrival, evaluated safety of the choices, and built a model to identify the predictors of pedestrian choices. It was found that pedestrians arriving during clearance phase made dynamic decisions based on the changing contexts. Specifically, the majority made the decision to 'cross' as opposed to 'wait' (85.2% vs. 14.8% respectively), although only the latter choice is legal. Seventy-nine percent of the pedestrians did not finish crossing the intersection before the traffic light turned red, and they walked 41% of the road width during a red light. For those waited, roughly half of them waited until green or crossed at an intersecting crosswalk, while others finally started on red light. Nevertheless, the waited pedestrians still faced lower risk than those crossed prematurely in terms of running behaviors, and conflicts with vehicles. Pedestrians are more likely to cross immediately after arrival when they are younger, are not engaged in secondary tasks, arrived at a position farther from approaching vehicles at the near side of the road, or arrived at a time when there are more pedestrians crossing the road. Although fewer pedestrians choose to cross when the required speed is higher (due to a wider road or less remaining time), the required speed they choose to cross at is far higher than their actual speed. These findings are essential for realistic pedestrian simulations and targeted safety countermeasures."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "They also imply the need for changes to certain traffic regulations and signal design to facilitate safe decision making at clearance phase."

For more information on this research see: Cross or wait? Pedestrian decision making during clearance phase at signalized intersections. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2018;111():115-124. Accident Analysis and Prevention can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Accident Analysis and Prevention - www.journals.elsevier.com/accident-analysis-and-prevention/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting X.L. Zhuang, Shaanxi Normal Univ, Sch Psychol, Shaanxi Key Lab Behav & Cognit Neurosci, Xian, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include C.X. Wu and S. Ma.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2017.08.019. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Shaanxi, People's Republic of China, Asia, Risk Management, Shaanxi Normal University.