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Pedestrian Gap Acceptance Behavior in Street Designs with Elements of Shared Space

Recent developments in the field of urban street design have seen the emergence of the concept of “shared space,” a term that refers to a range of streetscape treatments aiming at creating a better public realm by asserting the function of streets as places and designing more to a scale aimed at easier pedestrian movement and lower vehicle speeds. In light of this shift in focus toward the pedestrian, an examination was done on the aspect of pedestrian gap acceptance behavior and how this may have changed as a result of the implementation of street layouts with elements of shared space. With the use of video data from London’s Exhibition Road site during periods before and after its conversion from a conventional dual carriageway to a layout featuring a number of elements of shared space, the study looked at changes in key gap acceptance variables, such as waiting time, crossing time, crossing speed, and critical gap. The effects of several traffic- and pedestrian-specific attributes on gap acceptance were also investigated by means of binary logistic regression modeling. Results suggest that pedestrians felt more comfortable and confident in their interaction with vehicles post-redevelopment of the site because they not only tended to accept shorter gaps in traffic but also appeared to be more at ease when crossing. In particular, elderly people and pedestrians traveling with children seemed to benefit the most, no longer appearing to be any less comfortable when crossing the road than other pedestrians.