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Pedestrian Collision Experiment

Abstract This experiment focuses on the techniques employed by females and males, to avert a collision with other pedestrians, especially in crowded places. The study was undertaken to ascertain the validity of the outcomes provided by previous experiments conducted on this topic. The experiment’s hypothesis alludes that most men employ open pass circumvention behavior, while the females use closed pass averting conduct. Besides, the experiment involved 1220 participants, among them 630 females and 530 males. The experiment employed a naturalistic observational study design as it did not record the most specific details of the participants. The experiment found out that more females used closed pass avoidance conduct, while males used open pass averting conduct. It showed that most men are not afraid of colliding with other pedestrians compared to women.

Introduction Most pedestrian collisions happen in crowded places. A pedestrian may collide with other pedestrians, stationary objects, or other moving objects such as vehicles, bicycles, and motorcycles. These collisions are caused by numerous factors that a pedestrian might have control over or not. In a study conducted by Dohyung Kim, “The Transportation Safety of Elderly Pedestrians: Modeling Contributing Factors to Elderly Pedestrian Collisions,” elderly pedestrians practice safer road crossing behaviors compared to younger individuals on a one-way partitioned road. It is possible because older people are more cautious and walk slower compared to the younger generation. The elderly hold their breath, have a rest on an elevated median, or employ the raised median in an emergency as a shelter when walking across the road (Kim, 2019). Also, elderly pedestrians are less likely to cross a wide stretch of the road compared to the younger generation. When comparing the likelihood of males and females to engage in reckless behaviors that may lead to a collision, the females are less likely to get involved in a collision. It is because they are less likely to participate in high-risk activities. Males are highly likely to get involved in activities like running through or across the streets without clearly observing the condition of the space. In a study conducted in the University of California, San Diego, women were found to have less possibility of engaging in risky practices as most believed they would not find joy in them and felt that the outcomes were not desirable (Weiss et al., 2015). The reasons why males are more likely to engage in such activities are psychological, social, and biological. The male sex hormone is one of the contributors to the risky behaviors observed in males, especially during their teenage years. During the teenage period and others in their early thirties, males are less likely to put themselves in check to avert from engaging in a precipitate, risk-taking activity. Research has also proved that their brain’s frontal lobes that are responsible for controlling judgment do not entirely develop until they are in their twenties (Weiss et al., 2015). Some of the behaviors in men are also related to masculinity. It causes increased competition among them which may increase the risks they are likely to engage in while on the streets hence increasing their likelihood of being involved in a collision (McGrath, 2019). Besides, men are more likely to abuse drugs compared to women. Drugs impair one’s judgment and may get involved in a collision unintentionally. Irresponsible behaviors among male drivers may cause other collisions among pedestrians. However, the casualties may be equally male or female. In the United States, California had the highest cases of pedestrian collisions. The accidents claimed the lives of more than eight hundred individuals, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Association. The Collisions were reported to have occurred from 6.00 PM and 6.00 AM. Both pedestrians and drivers need to be extra-vigilant when using the streets to avoid collisions (Mwakalonge et al., 2015). The traffic safety researchers identified six common scenarios to be on the look for, and they include intersection dashes, dart-outs, cars merging or turning, ice cream truck alerts, walking in front of a stopped car or bus, and back up accidents. In some cases, pedestrians suddenly appear in front of a moving car and leave the drivers with no option due to lack of time to react to the incidence. It may be as a result of the driver’s obstructed view. Just dart-outs, intersection dashes often happen when pedestrians hastily across intersections during the last moment. Motorists mostly assume they have checked all the pedestrians and drive on only to collide with a pedestrian. At busy intersections, both drivers and pedestrian should be very cautious; otherwise, it can be deadly. These areas points include where vehicles are turning or merging to other roads (Stoker et al., 2015). Drivers concentrate on turning or merging and may assume the presence of a pedestrian leading to fatal accidents. When passengers are alighting from a bus, or crossing the street, a vehicle may stop to give them a safe passage. The pedestrians may not be visible to other drivers as they obstructed by the stopping vehicle. Upon walking past the stopped vehicle, the oncoming driver is surprised by their sudden appearance and may lack time to prevent the collision. Ice cream truck alerts may cause a pedestrian collision, particularly children. The run towards or away from the truck without careful scanning the environment and may collide with an oncoming vehicle or cyclist. Finally, backup accidents happen due to the driver’s recklessness for failing to scan their surrounding carefully before reversing (Stoker et al., 2015). Most victims of backup accidents are children and individuals using wheelchairs as they may not be visible unless the vehicle has a backup camera. Besides, pedestrian collisions can involve pedestrians and other pedestrians. It is determinant on the crowd density. Collisions are sometimes unavoidable in crowded places, and a “step-and-slide” movement may be achieved. It involves a trivial body angling such as a turning shoulder or an indiscernible sidestep. An open pass occurs when a person turns away from an oncoming pedestrian, while a closed pass occurs when the pedestrian turns his or her body towards an oncoming pedestrian. Occasionally, men are likely to use the open pass technique while the women opt to use the closed pass approach to prevent collisions. When pedestrians are moving in the same direction in crowded places, they are likely to collide with each other based on their different speeds (Hussein & Sayed, 2018). Walking on different lanes may help reduce the chances of a collision. The study will focus on the approaches used by females and males to avoid a collision, especially while walking in crowded streets. It was conducted to ascertain the validity of the outcomes of the previous experiment conducted on this topic. Male pedestrians are hypothesized to employ closed passes, while females use open passes. A clear variance between adult collision circumvention conduct in regards to the gender is expected. The null hypothesis proposed no dissimilarity between the kind of pass employed by females and males. On the other hand, the suggested alternate hypothesis was that a difference would be observed in the collision circumvention behavior in adult pedestrians based on their gender.

Methods A total of 1220 individuals participated in the research. Among them were 590 male and 630 female individuals. More detailed information concerning the participant, such as age and other finer details were not recorded since the experimental design used was a naturalistic observational study. I employed the between-subjects design and recorded three variables, that is the “the closed pass, open-pass, and the neutral pass.” The design was suitable as each of the participants was involved in one of the group constraint variables. The gender of the participants was considered as the independent variable, while the dependent variable was the observable passing behavior. I used an assortment of research materials to obtain the appropriate information for this experiment. I searched through the internet for books and journals that helped relate my topic with other previously conducted reviews. However, the school library provided very helpful information. A data-gathering grid was applied to record pedestrian collision evading behavior. Three kinds of behavioral variables were accessed in two different locations. The intensity of pedestrian movements determined the difference between the locations. At each of the spots, the interaction between each pair of pedestrians was recorded as closed, neutral, or open. The data was collected for fifteen to thirty minutes during the morning, afternoon, and evening hours every day. Two researchers collected the data at each spot. The observers were occasionally interchanged to minimize the chances of bias in the data collected.

Results A Chi-square assessment was conducted on the data from “closed and open” pass observations. A considerable relationship between the gender ‘open pass,’ and ‘closed pass’ was observed (Chi-Squared of 42.947, df=1) as indicated in figure 1.

Your results	Gender	Totals Type of pass	Male	Female Open	267	173	440 Closed	202	254	456 Neutral	121	203	324 Totals	590	630	1220 Table 1.

Figure 1.

Discussion One hundred seventy-three females conveyed open pass behavior, while 254 displayed closed behavior. On the other hand, 267 males illustrated an open pass avoidances conduct while only 202 of the 590 males showed closed pass avoidance behavior, as illustrated in Table 1 above. More females used the closed pass approach to avoid collision with other pedestrians, representing 40% of the total female participants. The females that used open pass conduct to avoid collision with others represented 27%, while the neutral represented 33%. 45% of the male participants used open pass avoidance behavior, while 34% of them employed closed pass conduct of avoiding other pedestrians. Only 20% of the males used neutral pass conduct to avert a collision with other pedestrians. The results aligned with my proposed hypothesis. Men are most likely to use an open pass to avoid a collision while women use closed pass to avert a collision.

References Hussein, M., & Sayed, T. (2018). Validation of an agent-based microscopic pedestrian simulation model in a crowded pedestrian walking environment. Transportation Planning and Technology, 42(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/03081060.2018.1541279 Kim, D. (2019). The transportation safety of elderly pedestrians: Modeling contributing factors to elderly pedestrian collisions. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 131, 268-274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2019.07.009 McGrath, K. F. (2019). Masculinity and risk: Is teaching “Too risky” for men in Australia? Men and Masculinities, 1097184X1986531. https://doi.org/10.1177/1097184x19865317 Mwakalonge, J., Siuhi, S., & White, J. (2015). Distracted walking: Examining the extent to pedestrian safety problems. Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition), 2(5), 327-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2015.08.004 Stoker, P., Garfinkel-Castro, A., Khayesi, M., Odero, W., Mwangi, M. N., Peden, M., & Ewing, R. (2015). Pedestrian safety and the built environment. Journal of Planning Literature, 30(4), 377-392. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885412215595438 Weiss, N. H., Sullivan, T. P., & Tull, M. T. (2015). Explicating the role of emotion dysregulation in risky behaviors: A review and synthesis of the literature with directions for future research and clinical practice. Current Opinion in Psychology, 3, 22-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.01.013