Dimitra Typa, “Analysis of pedestrians distracted behaviour talking on mobile phone”, Diploma Thesis, NTUA, School of Civil Engineering, Athens, October 2019.

The aim of this Diploma Thesis is to investigate the impact of hand-held cell phone conversation on pedestrians’ traffic and safety behaviour, when crossing signalized intersections. An outdoor-environment experiment, through video recording, was conducted in real road conditions, in three signalized intersections at the centre of Athens for the purpose of comparing the behaviour of distracted and non-distracted pedestrians. Multiple linear regression models were developed to define the influence of cell phone distraction on pedestrians’ speed. Furthermore, binary logistic regression models were developed to determine the association between cell phone distraction and pedestrians’ safety characteristics (near misses). The results of the models’ application demonstrated that distraction caused by hand-held cell phone conversation had a negative impact on pedestrians’ main traffic and safety characteristics, since, in general, mobile use not only decreases pedestrians’ speed but also increases their probability of being involved in an accident with an oncoming vehicle.