Study Of Key Issues On The Setting Of Pedestrian Crossing Facilities

Pedestrian traffic is a component of great importance in urban traffic. Being in a disadvantaged position of the whole mixed traffic, pedestrians’safety and comfort can not be guaranteed when crossing the street. Pedestrian crossing facilities, which serve as a significant element of urban transport facilities as well as an integral part of the whole pedestrian system, not only provide secure crossing for pedestrians. Rather, they contribute to the reduction of traffic accidents. Currently, although pedestrian crossing facilities having been operating and functioning to some extent, there still exist a lot of problems when it comes to the setting. Scientific and rational setting of pedestrian crossing facilities can, to a certain degree, facilitate urban traffic conditions, and ensure the effective use of pedestrian crossing facilities for the purpose of better serving pedestrians. Therefore, the study of optimizing the setting of pedestrian crossing facilities by exploring their model selection, site selection and reasonable distance of pedestrian crossing facilities possesses great significance in practice.This paper, in the first place, introduces the basic components of pedestrian crossing facilities, their features in service and setting form, and problems existed in pedestrian crossing facilities.In the second place, the characteristics of traffic flow in the process of pedestrian crossing are analyzed through field survey. Furthermore, by adopting questionnaire, the psychological characteristics of pedestrian crossing, including illegal acts, pedestrians’ maximum waiting time, acceptable detouring distance and the choice preference for pedestrian crossing facilities, are also displayed.In the third place, in light of effects of the above three key issues on the functioning of pedestrian crossing facilities and their internal relations, this paper sets up a comprehensive system of calculation methods to deal with model, site and reasonable distance of pedestrian crossing facilities. Through the study of those three key issues in the system of calculation methods, a qualitative and quantitative analysis of "two-stage" pedestrian crossing facilities selection method is brought forward first. The first stage is to set up the basic principle in pedestrian crossing facilities selection. The second stage is to establish setting criteria for pedestrian crossing facilities, by taking pedestrians’maximum waiting time as constraint, as well as combining road conditions, vehicle operation conditions and pedestrian crossing characteristics. Then, targeting at minimizing pedestrians’walking distance, quantitative analysis model of site selection is brought forth. Finally, to reach the minimum of the sum of the delay between vehicle and pedestrian, a reasonable distance between plane pedestrian crossing facilities is proposed. Resorting to the system of calculation methods and the study of three key issues, the thesis author develops a program with Software MATLAB. By inputting appropriate parameters in the program, the model and site of pedestrian crossing facilities can be achieved.Last but not least, the feasibility of the system of calculation methods for pedestrian crossing facilities is verified with case analysis.