Despite accounting for a substantial share of global road fatalities and being the most vulnerable road users, pedestrians remain underrepresented in psychological models of traffic safety. In particular, the interaction between risk perception and attitudes has rarely been examined, even though both constructs are central to understanding safety-related behavior. This study addresses this gap by introducing the Perception of Risky Situations Scale for Pedestrians (PRSS-P), a novel multi-factorial instrument designed to capture pedestrian-related, driver-related, and infrastructure-related risk perceptions.
A cross-sectional survey of 402 participants was conducted, in which they completed the PRSS-P (pedestrian-, driver-, and infrastructure-related risk perception) along with established measures of pedestrian behaviors (violations, lapses, aggressive, and positive behaviors) and attitudes (toward traffic rules and other road users). Moderation analyses (Hayes, PROCESS, Model 1) were performed to test the interaction effects.
Results revealed that the relationship between risk perception and pedestrian behavior is significantly moderated by attitudes. Critically, higher levels of perceived risk did not uniformly predict safer behavior. For pedestrians with sceptical attitudes toward traffic rules (higher scores), stronger perception of pedestrian and infrastructure-related risks was associated with increased violations, suggesting adaptive noncompliance. Conversely, the link between perceived risk and positive (safety-enhancing) behaviors was strongest among individuals who expressed greater trust in other road users (lower scores). Additionally, significant moderations were observed for lapses and aggressive behaviors, suggesting that these behaviors may be shaped by cognitive load and systemic frustration.
These findings demonstrate that risk perception does not operate in isolation; its behavioral impact is filtered through pedestrians' attitudinal orientations. By pairing a novel pedestrian-specific instrument (PRSS-P) with moderation analyses, this study highlights the potential attitude-focused strategies. These include campaigns to strengthen rule adherence and initiatives that promote respectful, cooperative interaction among road users, which can complement infrastructure and traffic-management improvements.