Citation

Carson F. Accid. Reconstr. J. 2010; 20(6): 11-15.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Accident Reconstruction Journal)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Pedestrian walking speed (PWS) is a parameter often needed for time/distance analyses in traffic accident reconstruction cases. A walking speed of approximately 3 mph is typically assumed for healthy, adult pedestrian-based studies published in this periodical and elsewhere. PWS is also widely used as an input for many transportation engineering applications, such as determining required gap sizes and pedestrian signal timing. The U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices assumes a PWS of 4 ft/sec or slower for pedestrians such as the elderly, people using wheelchairs or other assistive devices, and others. The aim of this study was to provide data that would corroborate or possibly contradict previous studies, and to see what effect variable factors such as age, gender, etc., would have on expected pedestrian travel speed.