Simulation of pedestrian behavior during the flashing green signal using a modified social force model

Although various theories have been adopted to develop reliable pedestrian walking models, limited effort has been made to shed light on the case at signalized crosswalk, especially during the pedestrian flashing green (PFG) interval. This study fills this gap by developing a microscopic simulation model for pedestrian behavior analysis. First, considering the impact of the PFG signal on pedestrian crossing behavior, a three-step framework is proposed to describe pedestrian decision-making process. The desired velocity of pedestrians at crosswalk in PFG phase is defined according to the process. Then, a social force model is embedded in a new crossing behavior model, and the parameters, including measurable and non-measurable ones, are either directly estimated based on observed dataset or indirectly derived by maximum-likelihood estimation. Finally, through simulation experiments, the model performance is verified and some key points for setting criterion of PFG are discussed.