Pedestrian crossing level of service (PCLOS) model for promoting safe street crossing in urban areas

Abstract

Crosswalks are the important location on the road because pedestrian are more exposed to vehicular traffic. It is important to plan and design pedestrian crossing more carefully. Currently, there are methods available for evaluating pedestrian level of service (LOS) of pedestrian crossings. However, very less number of pedestrian crossing facilities are considered by these methods in evaluating crosswalk condition. This study attempts to provide a comprehensive method for assessing crosswalks based on pedestrian facilities. The indicators in this research are taken from different guidelines available which consider pedestrian crossing facilities. A pedestrian crossing level of service (PCLOS) method is introduced in this research to evaluate pedestrian crosswalks. An analytical point system is used to compare the existing street crossing conditions to the standards available in the guidelines. The co-efficient of indicators is estimated by conducting a survey from pedestrian crosswalk user and experts. The proposed PCLOS is based both indicators score and coefficient of the indicators. This method was tested in four case studies for checking the results in in different scenario with different pedestrian crossing facilities available. The method proposed in the research can identify the existing problems in the crosswalks for pedestrian. Furthermore, the method can also be used for proposing improvements in the exiting conditions. The needs of disabled pedestrian are also considered in proposing the evaluating method.