Behaviors of pedestrians on streets with roadside strips

•Walking with traffic is illegal but more popular than walking against traffic.•Illegal behavior of walking into the roadway is also observed in half of pedestrians.•When couples walk abreast, males tend to walk on the roadway side, taking care of females.•Similar positional consideration for a vulnerable partner is also found in parent–child pairs. Pedestrian behaviors in natural settings have been investigated mainly on roads with sidewalks or the corridors outside or inside buildings. The present study examined pedestrian behaviors on roads with roadside strips, which are popular in Japanese local areas. The purpose of the study was to investigate pedestrian behaviors and the factors affecting them. Observations were made at two single-lane streets in Tokyo with 0.9 m and 0.5 m roadside strips. A total of 2,476 pedestrians were observed for 2 days (1 weekday, 1 weekend day) in each location. Walking with traffic was more popular (61%) than walking against traffic. People seemed to walk either side of the street depending on their turn direction at the forward intersection. Illegal behavior of walking into the roadway was also observed in 46% of pedestrians. This behavior was more likely to appear on the streets with narrower roadside strips and when people walked in a group. As expected, males, young and mature adults, and single pedestrians walked faster than females, children and senior adults, and pedestrians in a group. When a female and a male walked abreast, males tended to reduce their walking speed considerably and walk on the roadway side (62%), taking care of females. Similar positional consideration for a vulnerable partner was also found in parent–child pairs. It was concluded that people are likely to violate traffic law if the violation serves a purpose, and they tend to behave altruistically towards others, even if there is no relevant rule.