Abstract: This paper proposed a decision-making model of college students running on red signal using the theory of planned behavior considering the characteristics of urban road traffic environment in China. Firstly, six scenarios of road crossing are proposed according to traffic flow, road width and central safety island. Secondly, questionnaire on each scenario was designed according to the theory of planned behavior and the behavioral experience variable. More than 400 college students in Guangzhou were involved in the survey, and valid samples are 397, with an effective rate of 91.75%. The data tests show that the survey data has a good performance on reliability, validity and internal consistence. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to analyze college students crossing behavior in six scenarios, and six structural path diagrams are obtained. The results show that the attitudes towards crossing on red signals and the new behavioral experience have no significant correlation to behavioral intention, however, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are significantly related to behavioral intention. The perceptual behavior control is a powerful predictor of behavioral intention, which can not only predict behavioral intention, but also act directly on actual behavior.

Key words: traffic safety, college students crossing, crossing the red lights, theory of planned behavior, structural equation model