Examples of Research Topics

Analyses of Pedestrian Flow Characteristics

Pedestrians can move freely toward any directions without lane configuration like vehicular traffic. There are a couple of different flow characteristics between pedestrian and vehicle flows due to this multi-directional movements. This laboratory tries to figure out the characteristics of multi-directional pedestrian flow as well as pedetrian queue formations in order to propose better layout of walking spaces.


Development of Pedestrian and Vehicle Traffic Simulation

Traffic simulations are widely used in practice these days as a tool to evaluate traffic congestion. However, existing simulation models mostly treats either only vehicles or pedestrians and modeling the interactive behavior of vehicles and pedestrians is limited. This research aims to model maneuvers of pedestrian and vehicles at intersections in order to represent more general traffic flow conditions.


Applicability of Personal Mobility

Personal mobility vehicles (PMVs) have recently gained remarkable popularity as an alternative transport mode for short distance trips. PMVs are allowed on shared footpaths and cycling paths in many cities in Europe and the United States. However, Asian countries currently have some legal restrictions. Discussions and proposals are underway to allow PMVs on footpaths in the cities where pedestrian and cyclist demand is relatively high. To assist such policy decisions, impacts of PMVs on other shared space users (i.e., pedestrians and cyclists) should be properly understood. This research conducts several experimental tests and develops a simulation tool to figure out the requirements of road layout, traffic volume and vehicle performances for safely and effectively share the spaces by PMVs and other road users.


User Behavior at Transfer Stations and its Access Roads

Transfer stations need to have high mobility performance so that various types of users can efficiently move. This study especially focuses on the impact of "Kiss-and-Ride" vehicles on traffic at access roads considering their stop location choice behavior dependent on the station layouts.


Traffic Signal Control Considering Pedestrian Behavior

According to Road Traffic Act in Japan, "pedestrians should not start crossing and those who are crossing have to either complete crossing or return to the origin side" when they face pedestrian flashing green phase. The length of the flashing green is also designed based on this definition, though actually users hardly follow the rule. Settings of pedestrian clearance time varies in different countries. There exist various types of pedestrian signal indications for clearance times as well (such as, flashing red, blackout or no specific indications). These settings greatly affects not only on pedetrian behavior but also overall performance of intersection efficienty and safety. This research analyzes the behavior to propose better pedestrian phasing designs.