Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Masters Built Environment 2014-5 Spatial Planning & Transport Engineering Using Children's Maps to Locate Areas of Perceived Danger on Children's Routes to School Frank Bondzio Technological University Dublin Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/builtmas Part of the Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons Recommended Citation Bondzio, F. (2014). Spatial Planning & Transport Engineering Using Children's Maps to Locate Areas of Perceived Danger on Children's Routes to School. Masters dissertation. Dublin Institute of Technology. doi:10.21427/D7DW5S This Theses, Masters is brought to you for free and open access by the Built Environment at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License Funder: ABBEST Scholarship Dublin Institute of Technology Using children’s maps to locate areas of perceived danger on children’s routes to school. By Frank Bondzio May 2014 Submitted to the Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin as part of the requirement for the degree of: MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY DECLERATION I certify that this thesis which I now submit for examination for the award of Master of Philosophy, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others, save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. This thesis was prepared according to the regulations for postgraduate study by research of the Dublin Institute of Technology and has not been submitted in whole or in part for another award in any other third level institution. The work reported on in this thesis conforms to the principles and requirements of the DIT's guidelines for ethics in research. DIT has permission to keep, lend or copy this thesis in whole or in part, on condition that any such use of the material of the thesis be duly acknowledged. Signature __________________________________ Date _______________ Candidate ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work could not have been undertaken without the assistance of a number of people and institutions. Firstly I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Ken Boyle. Of great importance was also the support that I have received from Mr Michael Byrne, DCC Road Safety Development Officer/Road Safety Services Manager. This research has been funded by an ABBEST Scholarship. I am grateful for this support. A very special thank you goes to my room buddy Tadhg. Most of all I thank my wife Audrey and my children Hannah and Juliana. iii ABSTRACT Dublin faces many of the modern day transport problems associated with automobile transport. The bicycle is increasingly being viewed by Urban Planners as an interesting form of individual transportation which can form part of an integrated transportation solution to this problem. For cycling to be a sustainable mode of transport it must be all inclusive. However, there are some identifiable barriers which prevent certain groups in society from cycling. Barriers to children cycling are directly linked to safety concerns and strategies to encourage cycling to school in Ireland currently focus on promotion and cycle training with road safety engineering measures playing a minor role. This research developed a new, ethically sound methodology to locate areas of danger or perceived danger to children in an existing road network. The aim of the study was to improve the decision making process of planners and engineers when designing cycling infrastructure and road safety measures for children. This was achieved using spatial data within a Geographical Information System (GIS) and incorporated experiential data from children in three target schools in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) and quantitative road data from the road Safety Authority (RSA). Findings from the study indicate that the two existing road safety tools currently used in Ireland, the RSA Accident Black Spot Map and the NRA Road Safety Audit, are inadequate when locating areas of perceived road danger to children. It was found that children cycling and walking to school could pinpoint locations in the road network where they experienced dangerous situations or where they did not feel safe. In both instances road types 5 (Regional Roads) and 6 (Local Roads) were identified by children as the most problematic roads. It is exactly these roads that provide the main part of the local cycle infrastructure. An important aspect of the proposed method is that the map gives children the opportunity to participate and provides valuable information which could enable iv Planners and Traffic Engineers to implement measures from The National Cycle Manual to help to realise the full potential of Dublin for cycling to school. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT............................................................................................i ABSTRACT............................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................iv LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................x LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................xiv SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS .........................................................................xvi 1.0 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 1.1 Cycling: Sustainable Transport ..............................................................................1 1.2 Benefits to Society ................................................................................................1 1.3 Model for change .................................................................................................2 1.4 Gap in the current knowledge ..............................................................................3 1.5 Research Questions .............................................................................................6 1.6 Research Aim and Objectives ...............................................................................6 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................................8 2.1 Health Benefits of Cycling......................................................................................8 2.2 Children’s Health Benefits of Cycling.....................................................................8 2.3 Cycle friendly environments ................................................................................9 2.4 Cycling infrastructure In Dublin...........................................................................11 2.5 Traffic Education and Cycle Training for Children ..............................................15 2.6 Children’s Rights in Urban Planning ...................................................................17 2.1.1 Child Participation Tools .....................................................................18 2.6.2 Children’s Maps ..................................................................................18 vi 2.7 The Revival of Cycling as a Mode of Transport ..................................................21 2.8 Cycling In Ireland .............................................................................................23 2.9 Cycling to School ................................................................................................26 2.8.1 Cycling to School in Dublin ...................................................................27 2.10 Children’s independent travel and recreational cycling .................................28 2.11 Cycling Safety ....................................................................................................29 2.11.1 Cycling / Pedestrian Risk ...................................................................31 2.11.2 Traffic Safety for Cyclist and Pedestrians in Dublin ..........................32 2.11.3 Children’s Traffic Safety ....................................................................35 2.10.3.1 Frequency of Child Traffic Accidents ..............................36 2.10.3.2 Child Specific Road Traffic Problems ..............................39 2.12 GIS in Pedestrian and Bicycle Research ...........................................................40 2.13 Children and Maps ...........................................................................................41 2.12.1 Child Cartographers ...........................................................................42 2.14 Road Traffic Accident Black Spots ....................................................................44 2.13.1 Road Traffic Accident Black Spot Detection ......................................45 2.13.1.1 Accident Based Principles ..............................................45 2.13.1.2 Non Accident Based Principles ......................................46 2.15 Near Miss Reporting ........................................................................................47 2.16 Gap in the Current Knowledge ........................................................................49 3.0 METHODS ....................................................................................................53