Impact Analysis of "Street Surface Decoration" on Driver Pedestrian Priority Awareness and Driving Behavior

Abstract

Street surface decoration, in which specific designs are applied to the road surface, has been shown in previous research to be effective in fostering awareness and driving behavior of pedestrian-priority among drivers. However, this research has only been conducted in an experimental environment, and verification on public roads is essential for the generalization of the results. Therefore, in this study, driving experiments were carried out on a residential street in Fukui Prefecture to verify the effectiveness of Street surface decoration. A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the effect on fostering an awareness of Pedestrian priority, while data on visual behavior collected using an eye tracker and driving speeds were compared before and after the experiment to determine the effect on driving behavior. The results of the verification confirmed that Street surface decoration is effective in making drivers aware of Pedestrian priority and encourages pedestrian-aware driving, such as enhancing spatial awareness at street entries and reducing driving speed on single-road sections.