Linking pedestrian behavior and safety at urban midblock crossings: A surrogate safety indicator-based analysis

Pedestrian safety at midblock sections remains a major concern in urban traffic environments, especially in developing countries where crossings often occur outside designated facilities. This study aims to develop a proactive framework for assessing pedestrian safety using surrogate safety indicators and to establish the relationship between pedestrian behavior and safety performance.

Pedestrian-vehicle interaction data were extracted from video recordings at three midblock locations with high pedestrian activity. Key surrogate safety indicators, including post-encroachment time (PET), time to collision (TTC), and maximum deceleration rate (MDR), were estimated to assess conflict severity. Serviceability indicators such as accepted gap, rejected gap, pedestrian waiting time, and crossing time were also analyzed. A predictive model was developed to estimate surrogate safety indicators based on these serviceability parameters.

The results indicate that PET is an effective surrogate indicator for evaluating pedestrian safety. Rejected gap showed a strong positive influence on PET, while increased pedestrian waiting time significantly reduced safety levels. Gap acceptance analysis revealed a relatively low critical gap, indicating risk-prone crossing behavior among pedestrians. The developed model successfully establishes a direct relationship between pedestrian behavioral characteristics and safety outcomes.

The study demonstrates that surrogate safety indicators provide a reliable and proactive approach for evaluating pedestrian safety at midblock sections. The proposed framework enables identification of high-risk locations and supports planners and engineers in implementing targeted pedestrian safety improvements.