In total, 1392 pedestrians were unobtrusively observed in an urban setting at a pedestrian street crossing of undivided streets; 842 were female (60.5%) and 550 were male (39.5%). The observations took place between 7:30 and 8:30 in the morning. Chi-square test revealed the males crossed on redmore frequently than females. Logistic regression predicting red-light crossing for pedestrians arriving during a red-light phase indicated that, apart from gender, the tendency to cross on red was greater when there werefewer people waiting at the curb, either when a pedestrian arrived, or joining after arrival. The discussion refers to the theoretical explanationsconcerning the theory of æsocial controlÆ and to some practical implications of the results, such as using the positive value of social control in media campaigns and adjusting the red light duration in order to encouragepeople to obey the traffic light. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Abstract