Road user behaviour on pedestrian crossings and intersections: How to transform it into the compliance KPIs?

Abstract

Road safety key performance indicators (KPIs) provide essential insights into factors associated with crash and injury risks. The Trendline project, involving 25 EU Member States, focuses on collecting and analyzing road safety KPIs to inform policy decisions. In addition to standard KPIs recommended by the European Commission, the project explores ten experimental KPIs, including road users’ compliance with traffic rules at pedestrian crossings and intersections.

Compliance with traffic regulations is closely linked to improved road safety, making it a relevant KPI. Research shows that countries prioritizing compliance with key safety rules have achieved faster safety progress. However, existing observational studies, often relying on manual observations, video recordings, or surveys, may not fully meet KPI requirements in terms of coverage, technology, and collected data. For compliance KPIs to be effective, they must ensure standardized, reliable, and comparable data collection across locations and time.

This study proposes a methodology for transforming pedestrian and driver compliance behaviour into measurable KPIs. Based on a literature review and practical testing, the approach relies on human observers collecting data at standardized locations, free from confounding factors. Observations cover both pedestrians and drivers at unsignalized and signalized crossings, focusing on priority rule compliance and red-light adherence. The final KPI will be defined as the percentage of compliant users, disaggregated by age, gender, and vehicle type.

The communication presents findings from pilot studies conducted in Czechia, Hungary, and Portugal, evaluating data collection feasibility and methodology reliability. Additionally, the project is developing guidelines to standardize compliance KPI measurement and promote best practices. Preliminary results from the pilot studies will also be discussed, providing early insights into the effectiveness of this approach.