Understanding the impact of the walking environment on pedestrian perception and comprehension of the situation

Purpose: Erroneous pedestrian perception and comprehension of the walking environment have been recognized as the culprit in unsafe walking. There have been many studies to understand how pedestrian perception and comprehension of the surrounding situation are affected in laboratory settings. However, the real walking environment is characterized as a complex combination of various dynamic and static objects, all of which are important for pedestrian safety and diversely affect pedestrians. Therefore, this study aims to understand how pedestrian perception and comprehension of a pedestrian's surroundings are affected by the types and states (i.e., dynamic or static) of the perceived objects as well as the complexity of the walking environment using real-world experiments. Methods: In this study, the pedestrians’ level of perception and comprehension of various static (e.g., traffic lights, signs) and dynamic (e.g., other pedestrians, cars) objects were measured using the Situational Awareness Global Assessment Technique while they walked through different walking zones. Results and contributions: The results indicated that the pedestrians' awareness was more affected by the type of information that the objects delivered (e.g., safety-related information) and the complexity of the walking environment than the objects’ state. This study demonstrates the differences in pedestrian perception and comprehension based on the characteristics of the walking environment to help determine ways that can enhance the awareness of pedestrians to improve walking safety.