Deliverable 1 Measures for Pedestrian Safety and Mobility Problems
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Deliverable D 1 Measures for pedestrian safety and mobility problems Public P R O M I S I N G Promotion of Measures for Vulnerable Road Users Contract No. RO-97-RS.2112 Workpackage 1 Contribution of: NTUA, National Technical University of Athens, Greece July 2001 THIS PROJECT WAS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION DGVII UNDER THE TRANSPORT RTD PROGRAMME Deliverable D 1 Measures for pedestrian safety and mobility problems Public P R O M I S I N G Promotion of Measures for Vulnerable Road Users Contract No. RO-97-RS.2112 Project Co-ordinator: SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, the Netherlands Co-ordinator Workpackage 1: NTUA - National Technical University of Athens, Greece Partners Workpackage 1: CERTU - Centre d' Etudes sur les Réseaux, les Transports l'Urbanisme et les Constructions Publiques, France INRETS - Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité, France KfV - Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit - Institute of Traffic Psychology, Austria TRL - Transport Research Laboratory, United Kingdom UdB - Università Degli Studi di Brescia - Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Italy UNIROMA - Università Degli Studi Roma Tre - Dipartimento di Progettazione e Scienze dell'Architettura, Italy VV - De Voetgangersvereniging, the Netherlands July 2001 THIS PROJECT WAS FUNDED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION DGVII UNDER THE TRANSPORT RTD PROGRAMME Notice to the reader This volume is one of the six deliverables of the European research project PROMISING, on the promotion of mobility and safety of vulnerable road users. The research was carried out by a consortium of European partners, which was co-ordinated by the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research. The main report of the PROMISING project is written and edited by SWOV, based on the contributions of the various authors of the six deliverables. These deliverables were not re-edited, but are published in the form in which they were furnished by the authors. SWOV is not responsible for the contents of deliverables that were produced by authors outside SWOV. Copies of the following PROMISING publication can be obtained by contacting the respective author, or by downloading them from the SWOV website www.swov.nl. Final report for publication Promotion of mobility and safety of vulnerable road users. Final report of the European research project PROMISING. SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Leidschendam, the Netherlands. Deliverable 1 Measures for pedestrian safety and mobility problems. Final report of workpackage 1. NTUA National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Deliverable 2 Measures to promote cyclist safety and mobility. Final report of workpackage 2. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, Finland. Deliverable 3 Integration of needs of moped and motorcycle riders into safety measures. Final report of work- package 3. SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Leidschendam, the Netherlands. Deliverable 4 Safety of young car drivers in relation to their mobility. Final report of workpackage 4. BASt Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, Bergisch-Gladbach, Germany. Deliverable 5 Cost-benefit analysis of measures for vulnerable road users. Final report of workpackage 5. TRL Transport Research Laboratory, Crowthorne, United Kingdom. Deliverable 6 National and international forums to discuss the approach and the results of PROMISING. Final report of workpackage 7. SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Leidschendam, the Netherlands. Leaflet Integrated planning for mobility and safety is promising. Leaflet on the European research project PROMISING. SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, Leidschendam, the Netherlands. MEASURES FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY AND MOBILITY PROBLEMS Table of Contents page 1. Introduction 3 1.1. General definitions 3 1.2. Objectives and methodology 5 1.3. The research team 8 2. Pedestrian Safety in Individual Countries 9 2.1. Austria 10 2.2. France 12 2.3. Greece 14 2.4. Italy 16 2.5. The Netherlands 18 2.6. United Kingdom 20 3. Problem Analysis of Pedestrian Safety 22 3.1. Magnitude of the problem 22 3.2. Characteristics of the problems 29 3.3. From problems to action 44 4. Measures for Pedestrian Safety 47 4.1. Areas, Actions and Measures 50 4.2. Restrictiveness of measures according to the pedestrians’ viewpoint 68 4.3. Effectiveness of measures 74 4.4. Implementation process 79 5. Conclusion 92 5.1. General conclusion 92 5.2. Tentative recommendations 94 6. Bibliography 97 - Appendix: Pedestrian safety measures 100 List of Tables page Table 3.1. Pedestrian fatalities in the European Union (1995) 25 Table 3.2. Pedestrian fatalities in European countries (1995) 26 Table 3.3. Pedestrian mobility needs 31 Table 3.4. Pedestrian safety problems addressed by the eight measure types 45 Table 3.5. Pedestrian safety problems alleviated by the eight measure types 46 Table 4.1. Areas, actions and types of pedestrian safety measures 49 Table 4.2. Restrictiveness of technical measures 70 Table 4.3. Restrictiveness of non-technical measures 73 Table 4.4. Effectiveness of technical measures 75 Table 4.5. Effectiveness of non-technical measures 78 Table 4.6. Implementation of technical measures 82 Table 4.7. Implementation of non-technical measures 86 List of Figures Figure 1.1. The Methodology of Workpackage 1 5 Figure 3.1. Percentage of pedestrian fatalities in European countries (1995) 26 Figure 3.2. Pedestrian fatalities per population (1995) 27 1. INTRODUCTION _______________________________ 1.1. General Definitions 1.1.1. Pedestrians The definition of a pedestrian includes persons travelling on foot as well as those using some appliance or objects to help them fulfil that action or to accompany them in fulfilling it; this definition includes pushing a pram, wheelchair, bicycle or moped (however, not riding the bicycle or moped). In some countries, the definition is extended to cover people travelling by ski’s, skates or similar means [OECD]. Pedestrians are a fairly heterogeneous group. Speeds as well as movement patterns vary for different pedestrian types. Specially vulnerable groups include children, the elderly and the disabled. Children do not fully develop their perception of traffic and knowledge of traffic rules until about the beginning of adolescence and are thus not able to cope with complex traffic situations. Elderly people may have mobility restrictions; in any case, their reaction / decision times and walking speeds gradually become slower than before, and their visual and hearing perception becomes less acute. Disabled people include wheelchair users, visually impaired people and other ambulant people who are, permanently or temporarily, disabled - including those depending on artificial limbs, sticks or other walking aids, as well as the mentally disabled. Transport planning theory and practice in recent years, especially when considered within a wider urban-planning context, tends to promote travel modes considered to be more environmentally-friendly, such as walking (and cycling), and to discourage use of the motor vehicle, especially in the city centre. Safety is considered as an important quality aspect of walking, in particular given the vulnerability of pedestrians (both in terms of accident probability and expected severity); together 3 PROMISING Workpackage 1 1. Introduction with other important factors such as time savings and the attractivity of walking networks, improved safety could contribute to the better fulfilment of the needs of existing walkers, and (it could be argued) towards attracting a portion of car users to walking. 1.1.2. Pedestrian Safety Road accidents involving pedestrians occur relatively frequently, in particular inside urban areas. Five out of six injuries and two out of three pedestrian deaths have been found to occur in urban areas [Choueiri et al]. Compared to most other road accident types, the severity of pedestrian accidents is considerably high, due to the vulnerability of pedestrians vis-à-vis the vehicles. Pedestrians have the highest ratio of deaths to injuries among all categories of people injured by motor vehicles: about twice as much as motorcyclists, and over four times as much as for motor vehicle occupants [Choueiri et al]. The over-55 and under-12 age groups are those most at risk of becoming pedestrian casualties. Pedestrians’ overall perception of “safety”, in particular for women and elderly pedestrians, also includes considerations of security against violence or robbery, especially during hours of darkness [OECD]. 1.1.3. Pedestrian Mobility and (Non-)Restrictiveness of Safety Measures Pedestrian mobility can be expressed by a number of indicators referring to the characteristics of walking trips, such as frequency, purpose, length or duration. Two important considerations must be mentioned here regarding pedestrian mobility. Firstly, due to the complexity of mobility patterns, travel surveys do not always reflect the full extent of the pedestrian shares in modal split. And secondly, increased mobility may be the result of urban planning, necessitating longer travel (incl. walking) distances. Pedestrian mobility needs (listed in Table 3.3) refer to a range of activities performed on the pedestrian network, such as preparation of trips, performing trips, walking along, crossing, playing/exercising, and various forms of social interaction. Safety measures, broadly defined, include physical items (such as structures and equipment), settings (i.e. combinations of items) and procedures (e.g. regulations or initiatives) intended to reduce the probability and/or severity