Reducing the Environmental Impact of Midblock Crossing

TL;DR

This paper proposes a communication-based scheme to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions caused by midblock pedestrian crossings, demonstrating up to 16.7% reduction through simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach that leverages real-time pedestrian crossing information to mitigate environmental impacts of midblock crossings.

Findings

Up to 16.7% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions.

Effective dissemination of crossing info influences vehicle trajectories.

Simulation results validate the environmental benefits of the proposed scheme.

Abstract

Accommodating pedestrians crossing midblock has been shown to have harmful environmental consequences because of increased fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Somewhat surprisingly, no studies were devoted to mitigating the environmental impact of midblock crossing. Our main contribution is to propose schemes that mitigate the increased fuel consumption and CO2 emissions due to pedestrian midblock crossing by leveraging information about the location and expected duration of the crossing. This information is shared in a timely manner with approaching cars. We evaluated the impact of car decisions on fuel consumption and emissions by exploring potential trajectories that cars may take as a result of messages received. Our extensive simulations showed that timely dissemination of pedestrian crossing information to approaching vehicles can reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 16.7%.