Pedestrian Conflicts with Right Turning Vehicles in Utah: A Proactive Safety Analysis

At signalized intersections, pedestrians and right-turning vehicles frequently interact as they occupy the same road space. In Utah, a significant number of recent pedestrian crashes at intersections (171, 18%) have involved right-turning vehicles. This study investigates the association of conflict- and locational-level factors with conflict severity and ascertains variations across locations regarding conflict severity between pedestrian and right-turning vehicles. This study examined over 1,000 hours of video collected from 34 intersections in Utah, revealing 1,640 conflicts between pedestrians and right-turning vehicles. We used multilevel modeling, given the hierarchical nature of the data where observed conflict events are nested within selected intersection locations. The results reveal an increase in conflict severity for pedestrians crossing when the signal status was solid don’t walk and for bicyclists using the crosswalk to cross the street. Conflicts tended to be less severe when more pedestrians were in the group, using a wheelchair or pushing a stroller while crossing, fewer vehicles waiting to turn right, large right-turning vehicles, vehicles turning right on red, conflicts during evening peak hours, and during hours with measurable precipitation. Conflicts in the first crosswalk encountered by right-turning vehicles had longer encroachment times than conflicts in the second crosswalk. Similarly, when pedestrians approached the curb, higher encroachment time and pre-encroachment time were observed, while post-encroachment time was shorter. Crosswalk offset distance (the distance from the outside edge of the right-most lane to the nearest line of the parallel crosswalk) and household size were negatively associated with conflict severity outcomes. The findings of the study can assist transportation authorities to develop and implement design and operational strategies to ensure the safety of pedestrians crossing the street.