In-Depth Understanding of Pedestrian–Vehicle Near-Crash Events at Signalized Intersections: An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach

This study used a pedestrian-involved near-crash database and adopted an interpretable machine learning framework using SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) to understand the factors associated with critical pedestrian-involved near-crash events. The results indicate that pedestrians with a relatively higher walking speed are more likely to be involved in critical near-crash events. Furthermore, critical pedestrian-involved near-crash events are highly associated with vehicles with driving speeds of less than 10 mph. A higher pedestrian volume is highly associated with critical near-crash events with left-turn vehicles. It is possible that a higher pedestrian volume increases the occurrence of jaywalking behavior or encourages more pedestrians to step into the crosswalk when they should not. By contrast, a higher pedestrian volume is highly associated with non-critical near-crash events with right-turn vehicles. Right-turn vehicles often expect that there will be pedestrians crossing, and a higher volume of pedestrian traffic increases a driver’s awareness and caution while turning. The study also found that a longer signal cycle is highly associated with critical near-crash events when the pedestrian volume is low, while a relatively short signal cycle length is highly associated with critical near-crash events when the pedestrian volume is high. During non-peak hours, pedestrians have less tolerance for a relatively longer signal cycle. Moreover, a relatively shorter signal cycle length at peak hours will limit the number of pedestrians that can cross during a cycle and encourage the possibility of pedestrians jaywalking or stepping onto the crosswalk when they should not.