4. Pedestrian Archetypes
This is the list of all the archetypes and their essential and optional behaviors. The list includes the archetypes from our previous published paper Pedestrian Archetypes and the ongoing research.
4.1. Table of Contents
4.2. The Wanderer
Definition: Pedestrians who wander along driving lanes and often ignore traffic; their intentions are hard to predict.
Important descriptions:
Move along or within driving lanes without clear intent to cross or to stay on sidewalk.
Exhibit frequent, abrupt direction changes that confuse observers and AVs.
Unclear crossing intentions (annotators often disagree on whether they will cross).
May accelerate, change speed, or stop suddenly; can approach or retreat from vehicle lanes.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Along-lane |
• Not-sure-cross |
• Zig-zag |
4.3. The Drunk
Definition: Pedestrians impaired by alcohol or drugs, producing unpredictable gait, balance, and decision-making.
Important descriptions:
Impaired balance and motor coordination leads to stumbling, falling, or crawling.
Behavior is erratic and can modify other archetypes (like, a drunk jaywalker behaves differently than a sober one).
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Drunken-walk |
• Crawling |
• Dancing |
|
• Crosswalk detour |
|
• Fall |
|
• Trip |
4.4. The Distracted
Definition: Pedestrians whose attention is fixated on something other than traffic (phone, conversation, music, etc.), reducing situational awareness.
Important descriptions:
Usually able to act rationally if communicated with, but their perception delays increase reaction times.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Fixated not at ncoming vehicle |
• Crawling |
• Preoccuipied |
• Gesturing |
• Back turned |
4.5. The Flash
Definition: Pedestrians who dash or sprint through traffic with urgency and little regard for safety.
Important descriptions:
High-speed crossing behavior; urgency-driven rather than rational gap acceptance.
Paths can be straight or curved (not necessarily the shortest path).
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Run into traffic |
• Fixated not at incoming vehicle |
• Flinch-in |
|
• Flinch-out |
|
• Brisk-walking |
|
• Not looking/ glancing |
4.6. The Indecisive
Definition: Pedestrians who hesitate, vacillate, or repeatedly change crossing decisions, increasing risk as time passes.
Important descriptions:
Wavering decision-making can cause mid-crossing retreats or sudden accelerations.
Their indecision propagates uncertainty to other road users.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Retreat |
• Near-miss |
• Flinch-in |
• Not-sure-cross |
• Flinch-out |
• Pause-start |
• Frozen |
|
• Swerve |
4.7. The Blind
Definition: Pedestrians who either intentionally ignore traffic/signals or fail to notice vehicles and signals.
Important descriptions:
Two flavors: intentionally ignoring traffic (willfully) vs. failing to notice (inattentive or sensory limitations).
Difficult for drivers/AVs to infer awareness from external behavior.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Ignore traffic |
• Preoccupied |
• Not looking/ glancing |
4.8. The Flock
Definition: Groups of pedestrians that typically move together but can become dangerous when members disagree or become separated.
Important descriptions:
Group dynamics produce different risk patterns than isolated pedestrians.
Individual members can be distracted, or the group may fragment mid-crossing.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Group-walk |
• Group-disperse |
• Re-group |
|
• Cross |
|
• Not-sure-cross |
|
• Not-cross |
4.9. The Jaywalker
Definition: Pedestrians who cross at non-designated locations (mid-block, roundabout center, or other unexpected positions) regardless of signals.
Important descriptions:
High incidence of accidents from mid-block crossings.
Jaywalkers may choose the shortest path (over islands, roundabouts) ignoring safety.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Cross-without-crosswalk |
• Crosswalk-detour |
• Cross-on-red |
• Make-stop |
• Near-miss |
|
• Collision |
4.10. The Elderly
Definition: Older adults who typically exhibit slower perception and decision-making; behavior is risky due to delayed reaction rather than intentionally dangerous actions.
Important descriptions:
Slower motor and sensory responses reduce crossing efficiency and increase risk.
Hard to define by a single behavior; age appearance itself is an important cue.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Cautious |
4.11. The Kid
Definition: Children and younger pedestrians who behave unpredictably due to inexperience, small size, and impulsivity.
Important descriptions:
Not necessarily many stereotypical behaviors identify them externally; the presence of kids is itself a risk cue.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Ignore traffic |
|
• Not-sure-cross |
|
• Make-stop |
|
• Fixated not at the incoming vehicle |
4.12. The Eventful
Definition: Pedestrians who become dangerous due to external, often involuntary events (trips, falls, occlusions, dropped items, or pets).
Important descriptions:
Not the result of a stable personality trait; rather, these are situational hazards.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Flinch-in |
• Near-miss |
• Flinch-out |
• Make-stop |
• Drop-object |
• Flinch-in |
• Pickup-object |
• Flinch-out |
• Trip |
• Retreat |
• Fall |
|
• Pop-out-occlusion |
4.13. The Parked Pedestrian
Definition: Pedestrians who interact with parked vehicles — loading/unloading, getting in/out, or moving along parked cars — and therefore exhibit different risks than regular crossers.
Important descriptions:
Often partially occluded by the parked vehicle and less distinguishable.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Loading |
• Fixated not at incoming vehicle |
• Unloading |
• Preoccupied |
• getting-in |
• Trip |
• Getting-off ( a parked vehicle) |
• Fall |
4.14. The Con Artist
Definition: Individuals who intentionally stage exaggerated collisions with incoming vehicles to claim insurance compensation or extort money out of the driver, typically involving vehicles at rest or traveling at slow speeds.
Important descriptions:
Usually involves exaggerated and fake actions to minimize actual harm while ensuring collision occurs.
Often work with accomplices who quickly arrive to assist after the staged incident.
Target stopped or slow-moving vehicles to control the level of impact.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Collision |
• Climbing-onto-carhood |
• Looking |
• Thrown-back |
• Fall |
• Ignore-traffic |
• Not-cross |
|
• Run-into-traffic |
|
• Cross-without-crosswalk |
4.15. The Foreigner
Definition: Visitors unfamiliar with local traffic norms who misinterpret signals/structures, causing unsafe crossing decisions due to different traffic cultures.
Important descriptions:
Behavior stems from applying home country traffic norms to foreign traffic systems.
Often involves confusion about crossing signals, intersection types, or right-of-way rules.
May wait indefinitely for traffic that will never stop, or attempt crossings where local drivers don’t yield.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Ignore-traffic |
• Retreat |
• Near-miss |
• Back-turned |
• Cross-without-crosswalk |
• Cautious |
• Run-into-traffic |
|
• Not-looking-glancing |
4.16. The Influencer
Definition: Social media content creators who disregard traffic regulations to film videos, often involving photographers lying on roads or extended occupation of traffic lanes.
Important descriptions:
Deliberately ignore traffic safety for content creation purposes.
Often involve multiple people (photographer, subject) creating complex obstruction scenarios.
May include props, extended setup time, and sudden movements between shooting locations.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Ignore-traffic |
|
• Gesturing |
|
• Glancing |
4.17. The Protester
Definition: Groups of people participating in demonstrations who ignore traffic regulations, move into oncoming lanes, and obstruct vehicle visibility while displaying resistance.
Important descriptions:
Characterized by large groups holding signs and deliberately obstructing traffic.
May trigger aggressive responses from human drivers, creating additional hazards.
Behavior is ideologically motivated rather than transportation-focused.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Frozen |
• Group-walk |
• Not-cross |
• Along-lane |
• Looking |
• Back-turned |
• Ignore-traffic |
|
• Agitated |
4.18. The Confronted
Definition: Individuals whose behavior is driven by hostile and emotional responses towards another vehicle.
Important descriptions:
When interacting with drivers, they often display visible agitation, confrontational gestures, or even attack the vehicle, regardless of who is at fault.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Agitated |
• Assault |
• Aggression |
• Gesturing |
• Cross |
• Near-miss |
• Ignore-traffic |
4.19. The Pseudo Pedestrian
Definition: Individuals using wheeled devices (skateboard, rollerblades, wheelchair) who move faster than typical pedestrians and exhibit rapid, unpredictable movements.
Important descriptions:
Speed and wheeled movement creates different risk patterns than walking pedestrians.
May lose control of wheeled device, creating secondary hazards (e.g., skateboard rolling into traffic).
Combines pedestrian unpredictability with higher speeds and momentum.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Ignore-traffic |
• Along-lane |
• Run-into-traffic |
• Swerve |
• Cross |
• Pop-out-occlusion |
• Collision |
|
• Not-looking-glancing |
4.20. The Street Vendor
Definition: Individuals who approach vehicles during slow or stopped traffic to sell merchandise, creating close-proximity interactions with vehicles.
Important descriptions:
Deliberately approaches vehicles much closer than other pedestrian types.
Behavior involves sustained interaction alongside moving vehicles.
Creates unique tracking challenges due to close proximity and movement alongside vehicles.
Essential Behaviors |
Optional Behaviors |
|---|---|
• Pause-start |
|
• Pickup-object |
|
• Cross-on-red |