Abstract

The increase in crash-related pedestrian fatalities, primarily in urban streets, has promoted the development of technological innovations to mitigate this global problem. This article presents the results of an experiment that used virtual reality technology to study the performance of pedestrians at mid-block crossings of urban streets and the impact of a Road Information Assistance System [RIAS]. The RIAS was simulated as a handheld device that displays warning symbols or a combination of symbols and real-time information about the vehicles approaching the crosswalk to assist pedestrians in making the crossing decision. The experiment simulated a connected urban environment that can receive and transmit data from sensors in the infrastructure, vehicles, and pedestrians [via the RIAS]. The study evaluated the walking speeds, the vehicle gaps selected to cross the street, and the number of successful crossing events with no collisions. Three groups of twelve subjects [no RIAS, simple RIAS, and complex RIAS] were selected. The age and gender of the subjects, as well as the RIAS type used to cross the street, had significant effects on the average walking speed. The distributions of the average gap accepted by each of the three groups, based on the RIAS type, were statistically different. The group that used the RIAS device displaying symbols only had the worst performance and the highest average gap accepted when crossing the street.