TY - JOUR
T1 - For heaven's sake follow the rules
T2 - Pedestrians' behavior in an ultra-orthodox and a non-orthodox city
AU - Rosenbloom, Tova
AU - Nemrodov, Dan
AU - Barkan, Hadar
PY - 2004/11
Y1 - 2004/11
N2 - The present study focuses on the effect of the elements of religiosity and faith on pedestrian behavior. The sample consisted of 1047 pedestrians who were observed at two busy urban intersections. The observations were conducted in three separate intervals at two busy intersections in Ramat-Gan (secular area) and Bnei-Brak (ultra-orthodox area) during the afternoon hours. Five activities were the focus of the observation: running a red-light, crossing where there is no crosswalk, walking along the road, failing to check for traffic prior to crossing, and taking a child's hand when crossing. A Chi square test for independence was used to estimate the effect of location, gender and age. In the case of two-by-two cross-tabulation, Φ, the non-directional measure of association for categorical variables, was calculated. Findings indicate that males committed significantly more violations than females, and there is a negative correlation between age and frequency of violations. The younger the individual, the more frequently s/he commits a violation. Beyond age and gender as behavioral determinants, pedestrians in the orthodox environment committed violations about three times more frequently than those in the secular environment. Part of the robust difference found between the secular and the ultra-orthodox pedestrians, may be due to the fact that the age-related trend does not exist in Bnei-Brak. Age was related to the violation rate in Ramat-Gan, but not in Bnei-Brak. The following discussion relates to ideological, psychological and practical explanations of these findings.
AB - The present study focuses on the effect of the elements of religiosity and faith on pedestrian behavior. The sample consisted of 1047 pedestrians who were observed at two busy urban intersections. The observations were conducted in three separate intervals at two busy intersections in Ramat-Gan (secular area) and Bnei-Brak (ultra-orthodox area) during the afternoon hours. Five activities were the focus of the observation: running a red-light, crossing where there is no crosswalk, walking along the road, failing to check for traffic prior to crossing, and taking a child's hand when crossing. A Chi square test for independence was used to estimate the effect of location, gender and age. In the case of two-by-two cross-tabulation, Φ, the non-directional measure of association for categorical variables, was calculated. Findings indicate that males committed significantly more violations than females, and there is a negative correlation between age and frequency of violations. The younger the individual, the more frequently s/he commits a violation. Beyond age and gender as behavioral determinants, pedestrians in the orthodox environment committed violations about three times more frequently than those in the secular environment. Part of the robust difference found between the secular and the ultra-orthodox pedestrians, may be due to the fact that the age-related trend does not exist in Bnei-Brak. Age was related to the violation rate in Ramat-Gan, but not in Bnei-Brak. The following discussion relates to ideological, psychological and practical explanations of these findings.
KW - Pedestrians
KW - Religious
KW - Road safety
KW - Ultra-orthodox
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=11344276180&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.trf.2004.10.004
DO - 10.1016/j.trf.2004.10.004
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:11344276180
SN - 1369-8478
VL - 7
SP - 395
EP - 404
JO - Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
JF - Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
IS - 6
ER -