ABSTRACT
Wilson (1991) noted that a neglected but promising opportunity for effective driver improvement programmes lay in the field of specific locale based driving style assessment and subsequent modification. In pursuance of this concept, Wilson and McArdle (1992) developed and applied a direct observation technique for assessing driver-pedestrian incidents on a set of corners and pedestrian crossings in Greater London. In this technique, audio recording was made of all events observed to transpire when a group of pedestrians were at or on a crossing and one or more vehicles were within a given distance of the crossing. Out of 551 pedestrian groups, 110 incidents of infringements of pedestrian road rights according to the highway code were noted and
only 10 instances of courteous behaviour on the part of drivers. Wilson and Godin (1994) used this observational technique in a comparative study of
driver pedestrian incidents on a set of crossings near shopping centres in Sudbury, Canada. When like situations were compared in the two studies, British figures yielded about 1/3 of driver-pedestrian interactions as resulting in obstructions by the driver and only 2% resulting in driver assistance, while in Canada, the driver obstruction/assistance rates were about 20% and 30% respectively (Wilson & Godin, 1994).
