Non-compliance behaviour of pedestrians and the associated conflicts at signalized intersections in India

•The non-compliance behaviour of pedestrians is frequent at signalized intersections.•Violation prevalence is high in later half of the red phase.•Pedestrian violation causes serious conflicts.•Conflict proximity is determined with the help of post encroachment time (PET).•The severity of conflicts depends upon the speed and behaviour of the road users. Designing the crosswalks at signalized intersections aims to facilitate pedestrians' safe crossing by preventing conflicts with motorized vehicles. However, pedestrian safety remains at high risk due to the signal violations by pedestrians at the intersections in India. The present study examines the violation of pedestrians at twelve signalized intersections in India. The study results show that approximately 44.6% of pedestrians arriving during the red phase violate the signals. The violation prevalence is high in the latter half of the red-light period. With the help of a multiple linear regression model, the relationship between various explanatory variables (i.e., individual characteristics and traffic conditions) and the violation prevalence has been established. Further, the pedestrian-vehicle conflicts during signal violation have been classified based on the yielding behaviour of pedestrians and road users. The yielding behaviour of the road users is found to vary in the beginning, middle, and end of the red phase. The study utilized the conflict indicator ‘Post Encroachment Time’ (PET) to determine the proximity of conflicts during violation. The severity levels of the conflict were determined with the help of the Swedish Traffic Conflict Technique (STCT) using ‘Time to Accident’ (TA) and ‘Conflicting Speed’ (CS). A generalized ordered logit model has been utilized to identify the factors (i.e., traffic conditions, personal characteristics, and situational characteristics) that affect the severity level of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. The results highlight the need for engineering countermeasures, education, and enforcement to deal with the non-compliance behaviour of pedestrians.