Using a virtual reality approach to study the impact of nighttime lighting on pedestrian crossing behavior

Statistical data indicate that traffic collisions involving pedestrians and vehicles are more likely to occur at night than during the daytime. However, the specific impact of lighting conditions on pedestrian crossing safety still warrants further investigation. Using an immersive virtual reality (VR) simulator, we investigated the crossing behaviors of pedestrians under differing simulated lighting conditions. We recruited 28 volunteers to complete a crossing task within a VR intersection scenario under three lighting conditions: daylight, nighttime with street lighting, and nighttime without street lighting. The research results show that participants in dark environments at night are more likely to accept smaller vehicle gaps than during the daytime. Furthermore, pedestrian crossing speeds significantly increased at night compared to daytime conditions. These results indicate that compared to daytime, the reduced simulated illumination at night may lead participants to accept smaller vehicle gaps and shorter crossing durations, increasing unsafe behavior. These findings provide new evidence for the impact of nighttime lighting on pedestrian behavior. Our discoveries may offer insights for further research involving nighttime pedestrian safety.