DEVELOPMENT OF CONFLICTS ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE FOR PEDESTRIAN CROSSINGS

The purpose of the study described in this paper was to develop a pedestrian conflict technique that will be useful in identifying hazardous locations and specific operational deficiencies at pedestrian crossings. A major concern in the development of this conflict technique was flexibility, ease of use, and the ability to develop countermeasures from the collected data. The technique defines 13 principal pedestrian conflicts that may occur and uses different levels of conflict severity. A conflict data form was constructed. The applicability and feasibility of this conflict technique was tested at five crossing locations in which a total of 25 hours of data were collected. Although a significant amount of further testing is required to provide conclusive results on the usefulness of this conflict technique, preliminary investigation has indicated that this procedure can yield information that is valuable for the identification of potential safety hazards at pedestrian crossings. The technique may be used to develop countermeasures to reduce or eliminate pedestrian accidents. (Author)