Evaluation of Pedestrian Walking Speed Change Patterns at Crosswalks inPalestine

Background:Pedestrians and vehicles are the two most important elements in designing roads and highways. However, for a long time, the designer focused onvehicle issues and did not give sufficient attention to pedestrian safety. Recently though, pedestrians have become the subject of much research andmany studies. Moreover, most transportation codes include specific considerations and standards for pedestrians. One of the main pedestrian issuesconsidered in facilities and traffic signal design is pedestrian walking speed. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate the walking speed changepatterns at crosswalks and the appropriate design walking speed for pedestrians, which can then be used to design pedestrian facilities and trafficsignals. Methods:In this study, the crossing speeds of 4,301 pedestrians were collected from six different locations in Nablus, the second-most populous city inPalestine. Three of these locations were at unsignalized crosswalks, and the other three locations were at signalized crosswalks. Results:The collected data considered the factors of pedestrians’ age, gender and the type of traffic control at the crosswalk. After analyzing the collecteddata and performing the Z-test and ANOVA Test for each of the factors, the results showed that male pedestrians walk faster than femalepedestrians.Conclusion:The study also concluded that age significantly influenced pedestrian crossing speed. Moreover, the values of pedestrian crossing speed atunsignalized crosswalks were insignificantly higher than those at signalized crosswalks. Finally, the average and 15th percentile crossing speedswere determined, since these values are critical to design pedestrian facilities and traffic signals