Abstract
The simulation of the interaction between pedestrians and drivers in road crossing events is currently lacking detailed models for the pedestrian movement. In addition, the existing models require a wider empirical basis for calibration. The objective of this paper is to investigate the natural behavior of pedestrians and vehicle drivers in urban areas with a focus on pedestrian crossing events at designated pedestrian crossings and between urban intersections. The gathered results will be used to enhance and improve the pedestrian simulation models.
To be able to assess the natural behavior of pedestrians and drivers data is recorded in a naturalistic driving study. 30 test subjects drove the ika test vehicle on a predefined route in an urban area with a high traffic density of vulnerable road users. During the test drives of 60 minutes the behavior of the pedestrians was assessed with different sensors technologies (camera and radar). Video data of the driver and the environment was recorded to improve interpretation of the motivation of the interaction between driver and pedestrian.
Due to the test set-up objective as well as subjective data were collected. Therefore, the perceived criticality of the drivers was also considered. Short video sequences of pedestrian crossing events shown after the test drive enabled to differentiate the inter-individual criticality judgment that follows the definition of conflict levels used by [1]. Due to the test set-up of collecting data of pedestrians that are not privy, it is not possible to assess their perceived criticality and behavioral motivation during the interaction events. In addition, the collected data is limited trough the opening angle and the range of the sensor technologies used to investigate the pedestrian movement.
In comparison to other studies it is on the other hand possible to assess the unaffected behavior of the pedestrians as well as the drivers in a natural environment since both interaction participants are not in know of the objectives of the study. The collection of a data set from various sources enables detailed assessment and analyses of the interaction.
The conducted study provides a big data set that enables in addition to the primary objective of investing the driver-pedestrian-interaction in pedestrian road crossing events much other information on traffic participants’ behavior while moving in urban areas. Manual evaluation of a sub data set of three drivers revealed 296 interactions in which the pedestrians crossed the road in front of the subject vehicle or showed the perceptible intention to cross. The development of a detection algorithm for the automatic identification of the relevant situations is currently ongoing.
The work has been done in the sub-project “Simulation” of the cooperative project UR:BAN funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.
KEYWORDS – Pedestrian, road crossing, interaction, driver, naturalistic driving study