Vision Zero – safe streets

Road deaths can be reduced. This does not require complex computer systems, drones, a monorail and other nonsense. But it will be necessary to change the approach to designing the urban environment.

The most successful approach is now considered Norwegian initiative Vision Zero (zero deaths), which is gradually spreading in Europe. There was already a devastating article about her on Habré. Now it’s time, on the contrary, to praise Vision Zero and emphasize its advantages.

The driver is not at fault.

Blame the infrastructure. One of the main principles of Vision Zero is that road users will sometimes make mistakes, and infrastructure should never be wrong.

Every time a car-related death occurs on a city street (collision with a pedestrian), an investigation is carried out and the factors that led to the accident are investigated. And the infrastructure is changing.

If the parameters of the intersection allow the driver to perform the wrong maneuver (turn left at full speed), then the intersection needs to be redesigned (make a roundabout). If the driver cannot see the cyclist due to the blind spot, then the cycle path will be redesigned so that the cyclist approaches the road at the correct angle.

As a result, the infrastructure prevents people from making dangerous mistakes, and all other mistakes no longer lead to death.

Pedestrian infrastructure

In the Norwegian city of Oslo, you can find continuous sidewalks. If a secondary street adjoins the main one, the sidewalk crosses it. For drivers, the sidewalk serves as an artificial unevenness.

Safety islands in the middle of the streets protect pedestrians and create an artificial narrowing of the lane for motorists. At night they glow.

On some streets, pedestrians are allowed to cross the street anywhere, not just at the crossing. This creates the chaos necessary for the safety of all road users. The secret is simple: the more chaos – the more attentive will be the most dangerous participant in the movement – the driver of the car.

A big supporter of Vision Zero in Russia is Varlamov and his team. In that video he compares the infrastructure in different countries (two previous pictures are taken from this video).

Remove markings and road signs

With the same thought, the Norwegians removed most of the road signs. They are not needed. Their presence gives drivers the right to accelerate on a city street, and this is dangerous. Chaos on the road was introduced on purpose so that motorists move more slowly and give way to other participants.

Lack of markup also has its advantages. Previously, the road was divided by a double solid line drawn in the middle to separate the directions of travel. Crossing this line is illegal and results in a heavy fine. Now this line has been removed, and the driver can move into the middle of the road to overtake the cyclist. Oddly enough, on such a road there is enough space for everyone.

Pedestrian barriers are bad

They make drivers think they are on a race track and speed up right in front of the crosswalk, which is hidden right after the fence. When a car collides with a fence, the elements of the fence turn into fast-flying submunitions. Pedestrians prefer to climb over fences. The fence makes it difficult to clear the snow in winter. The fence prevents cyclists from riding along the edge of the road.

Of course, fences are not needed in the city.

Stairs are bad.

You can fall off them, especially in winter. Stairs are not available for people with limited mobility. An elevator is a complex machine that needs to be maintained. Most of the time it’s broken. It would be a good idea to make a regular pedestrian crossing instead of an underground or elevated one. Cheap, cheerful, relatively safe.

One lane for cars

Some habrahabr authors are trying to calculate the cost of rebuilding a car from one lane to another. It is believed that traffic jams occur due to rebuilding. This is partly true. In the safe city of the future, the lane for driving a car will always be one in most places. The second lane is for the bus. A single lane road is easier to cross. Movement on it is more orderly and predictable.

Cars along with bicycles

Sometimes there is no dedicated lane for a car at all. On this street, cars share a common lane with cyclists. The cyclist has priority here.

Street parking no longer exists

The hottest topic is parking in the city center. They want to be completely removed. Thus, the number of trips by car is forcibly reduced in the city in favor of other modes of transport. The only exception is for disabled people with limited mobility who are forced to travel by car.

Perhaps in the future cars will be banned altogether. Here videodiscussing the benefits of such a solution (in English).

Spring paradox. What happens if one of the streets is completely closed?

This paradox really works in the case of springs, rubber bands, etc. It can also be applied to the road transport system, where the participants in the movement themselves choose the route of travel. Imagine a small street in a city. This street successfully connects the districts, and the trip along it lasts 5 minutes during free hours. During rush hour, the trip along this street lasts 60 minutes. Because throughput depends on the load. This street can be bypassed on four adjacent streets. In the neighboring streets, the trip lasts 10 minutes, and at rush hour – 20 minutes.

Which route will you choose to travel by car? An equilibrium occurs in the system when the load is distributed approximately equally.

If you close a busy street, then the traffic will be distributed to other streets, and the efficiency of the network will increase. Don’t ask why. Once in an American city, they wanted to close one of the streets for repairs. It was feared that this would lead to a collapse in neighboring streets, but it turned out the other way around. Paradox.

Induced Demand – traffic jams are created artificially

Adding a new lane for cars temporarily solves the problem of traffic jams, but at the same time worsens the situation on neighboring streets that have not yet been widened. In the long term, this leads to an increase in the number of cars. The city is becoming car-oriented, and it is difficult to live in it for those who do not have a car.

This problem is most pronounced in America, here video with an explanation of the problem (in English).

phantom bike lane

Once in an American city, the inhabitants of one of the streets woke up and found that they had changed the markings on the asphalt. The median strip in the middle has disappeared, replaced by two Advisory Bike Lane (recommendatory lane for cyclists) at the edges. After a small scandal, I had to return everything as it was. But before that, a well-known YouTuber (Road Guy Rob) managed to visit this street, talking about the road infrastructure, in order to figure it out for himself. The result was video (in English).

An inventor dedicated to the study of road safety came up with a new marking. Now unprotected road users (bicycles, scooters, horse-drawn carts, roller skates) can move along the same road as cars. And there is enough space for everyone. There is no dividing line, you can overtake. If two cars drive in opposite directions, one of them will have to enter the bike lane, and this is allowed.

Local residents were not warned, so they took the innovation with hostility, and the markings had to be replaced with the old one. But the idea was good. In addition, there are no markings on the adjacent streets at all. Because these roads are given low priority, they are adjacent to private houses. If there were markings, the drivers would accelerate too fast.

Traffic jams near the school

Every morning, motorists line up in a long line trying to take the children to school. Children get out of the cars and run the last section themselves. Children used to walk to school or ride a bike. There are many reasons for this, see video (again in English). And the proposed solution surprised me. They call it Scool Bus on Foot. High school volunteers put on reflective vests and walk with a group of younger students from home to school.

The school street project involves the temporary closure of traffic on the street adjacent to the school.

Cycling in winter…

Why not. Winter cycling is very popular in the city of Oulu in northern Finland. The city is located on the same latitude as Arkhangelsk (65 north latitude). When it snows, a snow sweeper comes out to the bike path. A few hours later the path is clear. The bike handles well on packed snow. Tested on myself.

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Materials for this article accumulated gradually. Many of these videos I found by accident thanks to the recommendations of the YouTube system. There is no need to rush to apply these tips everywhere right away, but it is worth starting small. I hope that in the future you and your children will live in a city with safe streets.

Sorry for the spelling. Didn’t have time to check. If you spot a factual error, please report it in the comments.