01698207

Component

Narrow sidewalks are not the result of imagination nor a heritage of the former urban planning in the oldest cities. They exist in many modern cities, a simple web query provides a lot of examples in the world. In most cases, two pedestrians walking in opposite way cannot stay both on the sidewalk when they cross: one has to give a freeway on the curb by stepping down on the road, which can generate risky situations for pedestrians. These situations are nowadays underestimated and so are the associated risk. In this context, driving simulators and walking simulators are useful tools to conduct studies in a safe environment with controlled conditions. Therefore, they can allow improving knowledge on the way pedestrians interact on a narrow sidewalk and how drivers can react when facing this situation. This contribution aims to model the behaviors of simulated pedestrians, Non Player Characters (NPC). Using an interdisciplinary framework, the authors first identified from the literature psychosocial factors that should be involved in such interactions. Then, the authors designed a questionnaire to evaluate the impact of these factors on the perception of these interaction. Based on the main factors, the authors developed a perception model, and the authors modified the ORCA model, which is one of the most used for pedestrian collision avoidance simulation. Finally, the authors assessed the consistency of all the simulated interactions with a user study.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF10 Standing Committee on Pedestrians.

19-05480

English

17p

2019

Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References (32) ; Tables

Cities; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrians; Sidewalks; Traffic congestion; Traffic simulation; Virtual reality

Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2019 Paper #19-05480

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 7 2018 9:48AM