A Study of Pedestrians Crossing Speed at Signalized Intersections Considering Weather

Abstract

Walking speed is an essential parameter for traffic engineering applications. Signalized intersections are the most essential joints connecting transportation hub and destinations in urban area. A thorough understanding of pedestrian crossing speed shall be a precondition for a proper pedestrian signal timing design at signalized intersections. This study aims to determine the pedestrian crossing speed under various weather conditions, taking into account pedestrian’s basic information and the crosswalk length. The research found that pedestrians increase their crossing speed compared with the control group’s walking speed, regardless of age, gender, weather or the length of crosswalks. The results, however, shows on rainy days, the 15th percentile speed is 0.95 m/s, which is slower than all the other type of weather. The research also found that in age group, elder always crossing at the slowest speed, regardless of 15th percentile or mean percentile crossing speed. In gender group, female always walk slower than male group, regardless of 15th percentile or mean crossing speed. For various sorted pedestrian groups, speed in rainy weather is slowest, which is even slower than elder group that many researchers and agencies interested. Besides, pedestrians using shorter crosswalk walk slower than those walk in longer crosswalks. Finally, the pedestrian cross crossing speed from this investigation is compared with other areas and countries.