Pedestrian behaviour in crossings of HÉV (Budapest commuter railway) lines with right- and left-hand approach direction

Abstract

In Budapest, suburban railway lines usually operate with right-hand traffic, but one of them, the line H8-H9 still works in the left-hand system. The aim of this paper is to investigate the behaviour of pedestrians in selected at-grade crossings of H5 right- and H8-H9 left-hand lines and to reveal any differences between their behaviour, as well as the safety consequences. The results show that in right-hand traffic crossings, about 70% of pedestrians look in the correct order (left-right) before crossing, while in left-hand crossings, where the traffic order is different from the usual, the proportion of pedestrians looking in the correct order (right-left) is only about 40%. The analysis has been extended to other parameters, and a comparison has been made between right- and left-hand lines in terms of pedestrian accident data, which shows several times higher values for the left-hand line. Finally, some recommendations are made to encourage appropriate pedestrian
behaviour and thus improve safety.