Global Journal of Researches in Engineering, E: Civil & Structural, Volume 23 Issue 2

According to the WHO (2013), 22% of all fatalities which results from traffic accidents involve pedestrians, with more than 270,000 fatalities annually. According to Naci et al. (2009) and ACI-ISTAT (2013), pedestrians hit by motor vehicles account for the most significant percentage of road user fatalities, while the majority of injuries take place in urban areas (Bella & Ferrante 2021). For a variety of reasons, a pedestrian might cross the street; some might be hurried and disobey the rules, which occasionally lead to traffic jams and accidents on the road. Drivers must moderate their speed to prevent accidents due to pedestrians' frequent road crossing behavior. It is well known that the driver's inability to yield to the pedestrian cause collision between pedestrians and vehicles. Lowering the vehicle's speed improves pedestrian safety. Random pedestrian crossings of the road force drivers to halt often, which congests the traffic. The effects of unrestrained pedestrian movement on road accidents have been discussed by several scholars [Bichicchi et al. (2017); Gitelman et al. (2017); Killi & Vedagiri, (2014)]. Traffic congestion has had significant negative social, economic, and environmental effects of recent. The economic effects of traffic congestion in developing nations have been the subject of numerous academic studies. Otto and Awarri (2022), Otto and Ogboda (2022), and Otto and Simon (2022) all discussed on achieving sustainability in the transportation and traffic engineering industry when discussing road traffic congestion in Port Harcourt city. A thorough analysis of the factors contributing to traffic congestion in Port Harcourt City is still lacking from the body of knowledge. This study is the first of its kind to address pedestrian crossing behavior in the city of Port Harcourt, in-order to better and more thoroughly formulate policies for a sustainable urban transportation system, this study filled a research gap by identifying the variables influencing pedestrian crossing behavior and road user safety along Port Harcourt's major roads. It also evaluated the impact of pedestrian behavior on traffic congestion along East- West Road, Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, Ikwerri road, Ada George Road and Rumuokwuta-Choba Road since these roads are the most busiest in the city. II. M aterials and M ethod a) Materials Recording sheets, a pencil, a measuring tape, camcorder, and tripods were the materials utilized in this study. b) Method In order to ascertain the pedestrian crossing behavior along these major routes, a thorough field survey was conducted. The statistics were gathered utilizing camcorder in various traffic intersections and midblock crossings over various time intervals on weekdays (7am to 9am as the morning peak hour and 5pm to 7pm as the evening peak hour). The camcorder included data on pedestrian crossing frequency, pedestrian appearance (gender and age group), pedestrian crossing behavior (walking or running), pedestrian crossing locations (using the crosswalk or not), pedestrian crossing phase time (whether pedestrians cross during green phase or not), and pedestrian-vehicle interactions in crosswalks. Also, a well-developed questionnaire was distributed to 500 road users (pedestrians) along these major roads (East- West Road, Port Harcourt-Aba Expressway, Ikwerri road, Ada George Road and Rumuokwuta-Choba Road) to ascertain the factors influencing pedestrian crossing behavior. The responses were then analyzed statistically to determine the factors that are critical using the Likert Scale. Rensis Likert, an American psychologist, developed the Likert scale in 1932. Likert saw that there was a need to measure people’s opinions concerning diverse subjects, whereas scholars in the 1930s used closed ended questions and aims to make their research valid. In order to quantify people’s thoughts and attitudes, Likert created the Likert scale, a psychometric scale (Sack, 2021). The Likert scale makes the notion that attitudes or views can be measured. The five-point Likert scale, which ranges from strongly disagree to strongly agree, is the one that is most frequently used. Each response receives a score, sometimes known as a number, ranging from 1 to 5 (McLeod, 2019). For example, "Strongly Disagree" may receive a score of 1, "Disagree" could receive a 2, "Neutral/Undecided" could receive a 3, "Agree" could receive a 4, and "Strongly Agree" could receive a 5. In this study, the Likert scale as stated above was adopted. Respondents responded to the statements/questions by indicating their opinion based on the 5-point Likert scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree. Using the logic that a mean score of 3 on the Likert scale reflects a neutral, a mean score of less than 3 represents a non-critical effect, and a mean score of greater than 3 represents a critical effect was then calculated. The Likert scale mean score has the following interpretation ranges in this study: 1.0-2.4 (not critical), 2.5-3.4 (neutral), and 3.5-5.0 (critical). The mean score was determined using Equation 1. = ∑ ÷ 1 Also, the level of service (LOS) of these roads was determined to assess the effect of pedestrian crossing behavior at midblock locations. When evaluating a transportation facility from the perspective of a traveler, LOS method is adopted. Due to its simplicity, LOS has become fairly common in practice. The volume to capacity (V/C) ratio, maximum service flow rate, vehicle speed, and other traffic parameters can all be used to determine LOS (Wang et al 2018). Global Journal of Researches in Engineering © 2023 Global Journals ( ) E Volume XxXIII Issue II Version I 58 Year 2023 Understanding the Factors Influencing Pedestrian Crossing Behavior and its Effect on Road Performance in Port Harcourt City