Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Accid Anal Prev. 2021 Mar;151:105958. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2020.105958. Epub 2020 Dec 29.
Two-stage crossing with a median refuge island is commonly installed at the busy urban signalized intersections. To accommodate for the high traffic flow in different directions, split phasing is often applied for pedestrians' right of way of the two crossing stages. Previous studies mainly focus on the time delay, capacity and operation efficiency of two-stage crossings. It is rare that safety of two-stage crossings is investigated. Crossing behaviors and propensities of red light running at the two crossing stages (i.e. from the curbside to a central island, and then to another side of the road) are different from that of single stage crossing. Also, there could be interferences in the crossing behaviors and situational features between the two stages. This study aims to identify the personal characteristics, traffic attributes and environmental factors that affect the red light running propensities of pedestrians at the two-stage crossings, based on the video observation surveys at six urban signal intersections in Hong Kong. Random parameter logit regression approach is applied to measure the association between possible factors and propensities of red light running of pedestrians, with which the effect of unobserved heterogeneity is accounted. Results indicate that, other than the pedestrians' characteristics, pedestrian signal of the second stage, maximum waiting time and traffic flow significantly affect the propensity of red light running in the first stage. Also, there are significant interaction effects between pedestrians' characteristics and situational features on the propensity. On the other hand, pedestrians' waiting time before crossing the first stage significantly affects the propensity of red light running in the second stage. Findings are indicative to the design of pedestrian crossing, signal time plan and effective enforcement and education strategies that can deter against the red light running behaviors of pedestrians. Therefore, safety of two-stage signalized crossings can be enhanced.
两阶段交叉口设置中央安全岛已广泛应用于繁忙的城市信号交叉口。为适应不同方向的高交通流量，通常为两个交叉阶段的行人通行权应用了分离相位。以前的研究主要集中在两阶段交叉口的时间延迟、通行能力和运行效率上。很少有研究调查两阶段交叉口的安全性。两个交叉阶段（即从路边到中央岛，然后到道路的另一侧）的行人闯红灯行为和倾向与单阶段交叉不同。此外，两个阶段之间的交叉行为和情境特征可能存在干扰。本研究旨在基于香港六个城市信号交叉口的视频观测调查，确定影响行人在两阶段交叉口闯红灯倾向的个人特征、交通属性和环境因素。随机参数对数回归方法用于测量可能因素与行人闯红灯倾向之间的关联，其中考虑了未观察到的异质性的影响。结果表明，除了行人特征外，第二阶段行人信号、最大等待时间和交通流量显著影响第一阶段闯红灯的倾向。此外，行人特征和情境特征之间存在显著的交互作用对倾向的影响。另一方面，行人在第一阶段穿越前的等待时间显著影响第二阶段闯红灯的倾向。研究结果表明，针对行人过街设计、信号时间计划以及有效的执法和教育策略，可以阻止行人闯红灯行为，从而提高两阶段信号交叉口的安全性。
