Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Development, testing, and evaluation of road safety poster to reduce jaywalking behavior at intersections

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Cognition, Technology & Work Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Jaywalking is a traffic violation that contributes significantly to vehicle–pedestrian crashes at intersections. Although public education campaigns have been widely used in road safety, relatively little research has been conducted to understand the underlying process or mechanisms that influence their effectiveness for pedestrian safety, especially jaywalking behavior. This study aims to develop, test, and evaluate on-road pedestrian safety posters that are based on proven behavioral change approaches with demonstrated evidence to reduce jaywalking at intersections. A pedestrian safety poster targeting jaywalking was developed using several theoretical constructs from well-established behavioral change models and a questionnaire survey was administered to pedestrians to gauge their perceptions of the poster. Results showed that the communication had a significant positive effect in changing respondents’ adaptive intentions. The poster was subsequently installed at two signalized intersections in Melbourne, Australia, and the before (without) and after (with) proportions of jaywalkers were observed. Our results showed a significant decrease in the proportion of jaywalkers after the installation of the poster. This study showed that properly designed on-site road safety communication could change pedestrian behavior. It further highlighted the importance of using a well-established conceptual framework in the development and testing of road safety messages.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bungum TJ, Day C, Henry LJ (2005) The association of distraction and caution displayed by pedestrians at a lighted crosswalk. J Community Health 30(4):269–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cacciabue PC, Saad F (2008) Behavioural adaptations to driver support systems: a modelling and road safety perspective. Cogn Technol Work 10(1):31–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Souza C, Tay R (2016) Advertising implications and design of messages. Mark Intell Plan 34(4):504–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deb S, Carruth DW, Sween R, Strawderman L, Garrison TM (2017) Efficacy of virtual reality in pedestrian safety research. Appl Ergon 65:449–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dekker S, Pruchnicki S (2014) Drifting into failure: theorising the dynamics of disaster incubation. Theor Issues Ergon Sci 15(6):534–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dommes A, Granié MA, Cloutier MS, Coquelet C, Huguenin-Richard F (2015) Red light violations by adult pedestrians and other safety-related behaviors at signalized crosswalks. Accid Anal Prev 80:67–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott BJ (2003) The psychology of fear appeals re-visited. In: Road safety research, policing and education conference, pp 24–26

  • Elliott AM (2004) The attitudes and behaviour of adolescent road users: an application of the theory of planned behavior. TRL Report 601 https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/20272/1/strathprints020272.pdf. Accessed Nov 2018

  • Geen RG, Gange JJ (1977) Drive theory of social facilitation: twelve years of theory and research. Psychol Bull 84(6):1267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoekstra T, Wegman F (2011) Improving the effectiveness of road safety campaigns: current and new practices. IATSS Res 34(2):80–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland C, Hill R (2010) Gender differences in factors predicting unsafe crossing decisions in adult pedestrians across the lifespan: a simulation study. Accid Anal Prev 42(4):1097–1106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intini P, Colonna P, Berloco N, Ranieri V (2017a) Measuring trade-offs between risk and travel time based on experimental speed data. Advances in human aspects of transportation. Springer, Cham, pp 1103–1116

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Intini P, Colonna P, Berloco N, Ranieri V, Ryeng E (2017b) The relationships between familiarity and road accidents: some case studies. In: Transport infrastructure and systems: proceedings of the AIIT international congress on transport infrastructure and systems, Rome, Italy, 10–12 April 2017

  • Intini P, Berloco N, Colonna P, Ranieri V, Ryeng E (2018) Exploring the relationships between drivers’ familiarity and two-lane rural road accidents. A multi-level study. Accid Anal Prev 111:280–296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jørgensen NO (1988) Risky behaviour at traffic signals: a traffic engineer’s view. Ergonomics 31(4):657–661

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee C, Saxena M, Lin PS, Gonzalez-Velez E, Rouse J (2010) Aggressive driving and safety campaigns: lessons learned from better driver campaign in Florida. Transport Res Rec J Transp Res Board 2182:79–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis I, Watson B, Tay R (2007a) Examining the effectiveness of physical threats in road safety advertising: the role of the third-person effect, gender, and age. Transport Res Part F Traffic Psychol Driv Behav 10:48–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis I, Watson B, White K, Tay R (2007b) The role of fear in improving driver safety: a review of the effectiveness of fear (threat) appeals in road safety advertising. Int J Behav Consult Ther 3(2):203–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis I, Watson B, White K, Tay R (2007c) Promoting public health messages: should we move beyond fear-evoking appeals in road safety? Qual Health Res 17:61–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moshahedi N, Kattan L, Tay R (2018) Factors associated with compliance rate at pedestrian crosswalks with rectangular rapid flashing beacon. Can J Civ Eng 45(7):554–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mullen B, Copper C, Driskell JE (1990) Jaywalking as a function of model behavior. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 16(2):320–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Road Transport Commission (2012) Australian Road Rules: as approved by the Australian Transport Council. https://www.ntc.gov.au/Media/Reports/%28F1D63B25-98A0-8E5A-EBD4-BA6FC69ABF7D%29.pdf. Accessed Nov 2018

  • Paxion J, Galy E, Berthelon C (2015) Overload depending on driving experience and situation complexity: which strategies faced with a pedestrian crossing? Appl Ergon 51:343–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenbloom T (2009) Crossing at a red light: behaviour of individuals and groups. Transport Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav 12(5):389–394

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shiwakoti N, Tay R, Stasinopoulos P (2017) Exploring jaywalking at intersections. In: 39th Australasian transport research forum, Auckland, New Zealand

  • Shiwakoti N, Tay R, Stasinopoulos P, De Sousa T, Barber A (2018) Development of on-site poster to influence pedestrian jaywalking behaviour. In: 40th Australasian transport research forum, Auckland, Darwin, Australia

  • Taga H, Furuta K, Kanno T (2012) Human reliability analysis of car drivers in urban intersections. Cogn Technol Work 14(4):365–377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay R (2002) Exploring the effects of a road safety advertising campaign on the perceptions and intentions of the target and non-target audience to drink and drive. Traffic Inj Prev 3(3):195–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay R (2005a) The effectiveness of enforcement and publicity campaigns on serious crashes involving young male drivers: are drink driving and speeding similar? Accid Anal Prev 37(5):922–929

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay R (2005b) Mass media campaigns reduce the incidence of drink and driving. Evid Based Healthc Public Health 9:26–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tay R (2011) Drivers’ perception of two seatbelt wearing advertisements with different emotional appeals and cultural settings. J Aust Coll Road Saf 22(4):82–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Tay R (2012) Designing and testing theory-based road safety messages. Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Tay R (2013) Strengthening the effectiveness of intersection safety cameras: parts 1–3. Report submitted to the NRMA-ACT Road Safety Trust

  • Tay R (2016) Effectiveness of a theory-based road safety message in changing drivers’ intention among different populations. In: World conference on transport research, Shanghai, China

  • Tay R, Ozanne L (2002) Who are we scaring with high fear road safety campaigns? Asia Pac J Transp 4:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Tay R, Watson B (2002) Changing drivers’ intentions and behaviors using fear-based driver fatigue advertising. Health Mark Q 19(4):55–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Transport Accident Commission (2016) Walkers urged to hang up on distractions as pedestrian numbers swell. http://www.tac.vic.gov.au/about-the-tac/media-room/news-and-events/current-media-releases/walkers-urged-to-hang-up-on-distractions-as-pedestrian-numbers-swell. Accessed Nov 2018

  • Vanderhaegen F, Carsten O (2017) Can dissonance engineering improve risk analysis of human–machine systems? Cogn Technol Work 19(1):1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witte K, Allen M (2000) A meta-analysis of fear appeals: implications for effective public health campaigns. Health Educ Behav 27(5):591–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wundersitz L, Hutchinson T (2011) What can we learn from recent evaluations of road safety mass media campaigns? J Australas Coll Road Saf 22(4):40–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu Y, Li Y, Zhang F (2013) Pedestrians’ intention to jaywalk: automatic or planned? A study based on a dual-process model in China. Accid Anal Prev 50:811–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou R, Horrey WJ (2010) Predicting adolescent pedestrians’ behavioral intentions to follow the masses in risky crossing situations. Transport Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav 13(3):153–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Financial support from the Transport Accident Commission (TAC, C383) in Victoria, Australia is gratefully acknowledged, but the views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the sponsor. We would like to thank Mr. Thomas De Sousa and Mr. Andrew Barber for their assistance in data collection. We would also like to thank Mr. Robert Atik for assisting us in this study. Finally, we also thank two anonymous reviewers whose feedback and comments helped to further improve the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, RMIT University, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia

    Nirajan Shiwakoti & Peter Stasinopoulos

  2. School of Business, IT and Logistics, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia

    Richard Tay

Authors
  1. Nirajan Shiwakoti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard Tay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Peter Stasinopoulos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nirajan Shiwakoti.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shiwakoti, N., Tay, R. & Stasinopoulos, P. Development, testing, and evaluation of road safety poster to reduce jaywalking behavior at intersections. Cogn Tech Work 22, 389–397 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-019-00573-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-019-00573-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation