The Social psychological predictors of pedestrian behaviors

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2017
Demir, Başar
Pedestrian violations are a major traffic safety problem in low and middle-income countries. Pedestrians have a high responsibility in accidents due to their unsafe behaviors. The problem worsens further by the scarcity of theory-based research to improve our understanding of pedestrian violations. The current behavioral classification on road user behavior suggest that skill-based, rule-based, and knowledge-based performance levels lead to violations, errors, and positive behaviors. These are distinct domains of behavior that can be further divided into sub-dimensions. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the prototype willingness model (PWM) are two leading decision-making frameworks that are applied into a wide range of behaviors. These theories aim to capture the reasoned and social reactive components in decision-making. The current study aimed to investigate whether the taxonomy pedestrian violations, pedestrian lapses, and positive pedestrian behavior is valid for Turkish pedestrians, and to compare the TPB and the PWM in terms of their predictive power on these behaviors, using structural equation modeling. The data from 486 university students, which is collected via paper-pencil method, was analyzed. The results revealed that violation, lapse, and positive behavior classification fitted to the Turkish pedestrians. Moreover, the TPB, the PWM, and the integrative models were highly relevant to the pedestrian behaviors that happen mostly in asocial reactive way. The findings are discussed in relation with the efficacy of the TPB and the PWM, theoretical implications, and applied value for practitioners. Lastly, the limitations were provided.  

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Citation Formats
B. Demir, “The Social psychological predictors of pedestrian behaviors,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2017.