Risk perceptions of pedestrians for traffic and road features

Traffic fatalities from 2015 to 2019 in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India show that pedestrians and cyclists have the largest share of total road fatalities. This study analyzed the pedestrian's perceptions of risk in the medium-sized city-Bulandshahr-UP, India regarding the traffic and road features. Perception of risk provides important information in identifying potential risks and explaining travel choices by pedestrians. The study locations were selected based on identified blackspots i.e. clustering of actual fatal crashes during 2015-2019 in UP. The types of locations at the blackspots were intersections below flyover, four-way signalized intersections, midblocks and foot of flyovers. An empirical analysis is presented in the study by taking pedestrians' ranking of the selected risk factors like traffic speed, free left turn at intersections, unmarked crosswalks, median width, traffic volume and the number of lanes and using the Rank-ordered logit model. Traffic speed and median width were ranked as the two highest risk factors by pedestrians. The results also indicated that increased numbers of lanes are more likely to be perceived riskier by older age groups of pedestrians and females at intersections below flyovers and midblocks. A comparison of different locations shows that all the factors were significant at four-way signalized intersections, indicating more perceived risk by pedestrians at intersections. These significant results can be used by practitioners to design safer intersections and midblocks at selected locations for pedestrians in UP, India.