A comparison of daytime and nighttime pedestrian road-crossing behavior using an immersive virtual environment.

OBJECTIVE: Reduced visibility for both drivers and pedestrians is a key factor underlying the higher risk of vehicle-pedestrian collisions in dark conditions. This study investigated the extent to which pedestrians adjust for the higher risk of road crossing at night by comparing daytime and nighttime pedestrian road crossing using an immersive virtual environment. METHOD: Participants physically crossed a single lane of continuous traffic in an immersive pedestrian simulator. Participants were randomly assigned to either the daytime or the nighttime lighting condition. The primary measures were the size of the gap selected for crossing and the timing of crossing motions relative to the gap. RESULTS: The results showed that there were no significant differences in gap selection or movement timing in daytime vs. nighttime lighting conditions. However, there was a marginal increase in the time to spare after crossing the road when crossing in the dark, likely due to an accumulation of small differences in gap choices and movement timing. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that pedestrians do not adjust their road crossing to account for greater risk at night. As such, this study adds to our understanding of the potential risk factors for pedestrian injuries and fatalities in nighttime conditions.

How do pedestrians respond to adaptive headlamp systems in vehicles? A road-crossing study in an immersive virtual environment.

Three-fourths of pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. occur in the dark (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2020). Adaptive Headlight Systems (AHS) offer the potential to address this problem by improving the visibility of pedestrians for drivers and alerting pedestrians to approaching vehicles. The goal of this study was to investigate how pedestrians respond to different types of AHS. We conducted a mixed factor experiment with 106 college-age adults using a large-screen pedestrian simulator. The task for participants was to cross a stream of continuous traffic without colliding with a vehicle. There were four AHS treatment conditions that differed in the color (white or red) and timing of an icon projected on the roadway in front the participant as an AHS vehicle approached. Participants in the treatment conditions encountered a mix of AHS and non-AHS vehicles. There was also a control condition in which participants encountered only non-AHS vehicles. We found that the color and the timing of the icon projected on the roadway influenced the size of the gaps crossed. Participants in the red icon with early onset condition chose the largest gaps for crossing. An unexpected outcome was that participants in the AHS treatment conditions chose larger gaps even when crossing in front of non-AHS vehicles, suggesting that experiences with AHS vehicles generalized to non-AHS vehicles. We conclude that AHS can have a significant, positive impact on pedestrian road-crossing safety.