DEVELOPING THE PERCEPTION OF RISKY SITUATIONS SCALE FOR PEDESTRIANS (PRSS-P) AND EXPLORING ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH PEDESTRIAN BEHAVIORS UNDER THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF ATTITUDES

Date

2025-9-29

Author

Bedi, Mustafa Kurtuluş

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Pedestrian safety research has long been constrained by the absence of a context-sensitive measure of pedestrians’ risk perception, leaving a major conceptual and methodological gap. This thesis addresses that void by introducing the Perception of Risky Situations Scale for Pedestrians (PRSS-P), the first tool designed to systematically capture the diverse risks pedestrians face in everyday walking. The scale provides a robust, pedestrian-specific measure for both research and practical applications. In addition, the study contributes theoretically by integrating attitudes into a moderated framework that clarifies how risk perception translates into behavior. Although attitudes are recognized predictors, their role in shaping the link between perceived risk and pedestrian behavior remains underexplored. Accordingly, this research had two aims: (1) to develop and validate the PRSS-P for comprehensive representation of pedestrian risk, and (2) to examine how attitudes toward traffic rules and other road users moderate the relationship between perceived risk and behaviors (violations, lapses, aggressive, and positive behaviors). Grounded in qualitative interviews, the PRSS-P emerged as a reliable, multidimensional 40-item scale (α = .97) with three coherent dimensions: Pedestrian-Related (α = .93), Driver-Related (α = .89), and Infrastructure-Related (α = .87) Risk Perception. Moderation analyses confirmed that attitudes significantly shaped the impact of perceived risk on behavior. Rule scepticism and critical views often amplified maladaptive outcomes, while cooperative orientations were linked to safer conduct. Overall, the findings underline both the investigative utility of the PRSS-P and the importance of attitudinal contexts, suggesting that effective interventions should combine infrastructural improvements with targeted attitude-based strategies.

Subject Keywords

pedestrian behaviors, risk perception, attitudes toward other road users, attitudes toward traffic rules

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116117

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis