Red light crossing, crossing time and attitudes to crossing with intelligent green light for pedestrians

In order to increase mobility and promote modal shift to walking, intersections in the city of Aarhus, Denmark have been equipped with intelligent management of green light for pedestrians. It allows adjustment of green time based on radar detection of the pedestrians in the crossing, meaning the green time for the pedestrians can be prolonged if required. The effect is examined in a before/after study of a two-stage pedestrian crossing with a centre refuge island in an intersection with four-lane roads. Data consists of answers from an on-site questionnaire including 72+53 persons and hours of video registration of the pedestrian crossing. The study includes the pedestrians’ experiences, the measured time of crossing and the share of pedestrians doing red-light walking. The analyses of video recordings are carried out with the video analysing software RUBA. The questionnaires show a general, more positive experience in the after registration than before, although only the change in share of respondents who rarely/never reach the refuge island before the light changes to red (from 42 to 68%) is statistically significant. Recorded red-light walking was significantly reduced from 44 to 16% walking from the refuge island, while it was unchanged 16% when walking to the island. The mean crossing time was reduced 5 and 6 seconds in- and outside the peak hour period, respectively. The reductions in mean time were not statistically significant.