Right-looking habit and maladaptation of pedestrians in areas with unfamiliar driving rules

Both left-driving (LD) and right-driving (RD) rules are used around the world. When traveling to places with different driving rules, pedestrians are likely to make mistakes. To investigate the frequency of such mistakes, a case study was conducted with pedestrians in Hong Kong, which follows LD rules, i.e., traffic drives on the left. The study aimed to probe the effects of hometown driving rules and length of stay on pedestrians’ right-looking habit and maladaptation to the Hong Kong LD system and determine the mediating effect of the right-looking habit. A face-to-face survey was conducted with 581 respondents at seven locations in Hong Kong. A structural equation model was applied to determine the relationship among hometown driving rules, length of stay, right-looking habit, and maladaptation. The model exhibited good fitness (χ/degrees of freedom=2.154; comparative fit index=0.989; Tucker-Lewis Index=0.980; and root mean square error of approximation=0.045). The results revealed that hometown driving rules and length of stay had positive effects on the right-looking habit, and hometown driving rules had a direct negative effect on maladaptation. The right-looking habit partially mediated the effect of hometown driving rules and fully mediated the effect of length of stay on maladaptation to the Hong Kong LD system. It was found that when foreign pedestrians were in areas with unfamiliar driving rules, they tended to practice their hometown looking habits, especially foreign pedestrians who had stayed only for a short time; this behavior differed significantly from that of local pedestrians, and it led to more severe maladaptation. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence of pedestrians’ looking habits and maladaptation in areas with unfamiliar driving systems and have significant implications for improving the safety of foreign pedestrians.