Modeling of Safe Braking Distance Considering Pedestrian Psychology and Vehicle Characteristics and the Design of an Active Safety Warning System for Pedestrian Crossings

Abstract

Addressing the traffic safety issues caused by pedestrian–vehicle conflicts during street crossing, this study proposes optimization strategies from both theoretical and technical perspectives. A safety braking distance model is introduced, taking into account pedestrians’ psychological safety and vehicle braking processes. Additionally, an active safety warning system for crosswalks has been designed. This system features a modular design, including detection, control, alarm, and wireless communication modules. It can monitor, in real-time, the positions and speeds of pedestrians and vehicles, assess potential conflicts between them under various scenarios, and implement different warning strategies accordingly. Compared to mainstream variable message sign (VMS) warning systems, this proposed system shows significant advantages in terms of section-weighted total delay metrics. Through simulations involving 3000 pedestrian crossings and comparative analyses of vehicle speed, pedestrian speed, vehicle deceleration rate, and accident numbers before and after the application of the active safety warning system, it was found that the critical accident rate indicator decreased from 0.27% to 0.06%. The results demonstrate that the system effectively provides bidirectional warnings to pedestrians and vehicles, significantly enhancing the safety of pedestrian street crossings. This research offers new insights into addressing pedestrian crossing safety issues.

Keywords

• pedestrian crossing
• millimeter wave radar
• video sensor
• smart zebra crossing
• safe braking distance modeling