Driver Response Time to Midblock Crossing Pedestrians

Vehicle-pedestrian collisions account for 15% of fatal crashes in the USA, and there has been a twelve percent increase in fatal crashes in the USA from 2006 to 2015. Although research exists on the response time of drivers responding to pedestrian path intrusions, data on the response time of through drivers to jaywalking pedestrians crossing from the far side of the road has not been determined. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify Driver Response Time (DRT) to a pedestrian that intrudes perpendicularly into the path of a vehicle from the far curb (adjacent to oncoming traffic). 50 (N_Female = 25; N_Male = 25) licensed volunteer drivers took part in a study at the University of Guelph Driving Research in Virtual Environments (DRiVE) lab using an Oktal complete vehicle driving simulator. After a brief practice drive to acclimatize to the virtual environment, participants completed the approximately 10 minute experiment drive during which the pedestrian hazard was presented. Only eight percent of drivers collided with the pedestrian with a mean time-to-impact of 4.35 seconds. There were no gender differences in terms of DRT or crash rate.