Pedestrian gaps and walking speed at uncontrolled midblock crosswalks

This study seeks to understand the behavior of pedestrians who cross the street mid-block where vehicles travel while making use of existing vehicular gaps. This study was carried out in the city of Tunja and information was collected in order to obtain data on the accepted gap and crossing speed which was then correlated to variables such as age, gender, type of vehicle, group formation, reduced mobility conditions, walking time, walking vs. running, and if the person crosses with children, among others. A statistical characterization was performed on the above information, obtaining relationships that may be of interest in understanding pedestrian behavior in the city. We found that the gap accepted by a pedestrian is directly proportional to the walking time and the time used to make the crossing is near 50% of the critical gap. The variables that were more significant in the size of the gaps accepted by pedestrians at the crossing were: the type of vehicle, the type of gap, and the walking time.