Providing for Pedestrians

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter aims to advise the public as well as municipal, state and national agencies about how pedestrian safety can be improved through changes in our built environment. Higher safety can lead to more walking and thereby a more sustainable society.

Methodology – The chapter is based on a review of literature, including a review of published papers and field studies by the author himself.

Findings – To reach ‘acceptable’ safety levels, all arterials and collector roads – at least segments with more than 50 pedestrians a day – should have sidewalks. The sidewalks should be separated from the roadway by a curb if speeds are low and by a barrier or wide separation strip in high-speed areas; that is, where speeds are higher than 50 km/h. Local roads also need sidewalks unless traffic volumes and speeds are very low. The major safety issue for pedestrians is, however, where they cross streets. Elderly pedestrians and pedestrians in a great hurry or under the influence of intoxicants in particular need streets to be narrow and have low speeds for them to be able to cross safely. Marking crosswalks or even signalising them will have only marginal safety effects at best. Posting them for low speed is also not enough unless we have photo speed-enforcement ensuring that everyone drives slowly. Rather, using narrow cross-sections or speed cushions at the approaches ensuring that 90-percentile speeds are no more than 30 km/h at crossing points is key to safety. In between crossing points a speed of 50 km/h is acceptable with pedestrians on adjacent sidewalks.

Social implications – We as a society need to encourage walking as a mode of transportation since walking promotes better health and a cleaner environment; that is, a more sustainable society. However, it has to be safe to walk or people will prefer to drive to their destinations. Also, distances between destination points have to be kept reasonably short and the environment, where people walk needs to be interesting and aesthetically somewhat pleasing to encourage walking.

Citation

Gårder, P. (2018), "Providing for Pedestrians", Lord, D. and Washington, S. (Ed.) Safe Mobility: Challenges, Methodology and Solutions (Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 11), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 207-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-994120180000011011