A street-crossing simulator to study and train pedestrian behaviour
Abstract
The paper presents the Ifsttar advanced pedestrian simulator built in Versailles and different kinds of studies carried out thanks to this device. This cave-like facility was specifically designed for investigating and training older pedestrians. Therefore, an easily understandable and unconstraining device was chosen. It consists of visual road scenes that are rear-projected on big screens forming a corridor in which the pedestrians can actually walk on a distance of 7 m. Several kinds of studies have been conducted so far: (i) Comparative investigations of younger and older pedestrians' behaviour in two-way street-crossing situations. They show that older pedestrians tend to rely on distance-based heuristics while younger pedestrians rely on arrival-time estimates. Older pedestrians also tend to neglect information from the far lane and have more collisions during the second part of their crossing than younger pedestrians. (ii) Several training programs for older pedestrians were tested, demonstrating significant safety improvements by means of behavioural (using the pedestrian simulator) and/or educational programs. (iii) Investigations of the behaviour of pedestrian dyads. They show behaviour adaptations according to the conduct of the other pedestrian and provide evidence of social influence.