Re-think on road design must put safety first

Safety must be the most important element of road design, superseding traffic flow and capacity, writes Peter Siemensma, senior transport planner at Arcadis

With the number of people cycling in the UK steadily increasing, there has also been a rise in fatal collisions. In the UK, 100 cyclists have died this year, as well as 409 pedestrians. This is an issue that cannot go on and vulnerable road users must be protected by providing safe infrastructure.

In the past, infrastructure in the UK was mainly built to cater for motorised vehicles. For many years our road design principles have been based on topics such as ‘capacity, speed and free flow of traffic’ with no mention of the aspect of human safety, whether that be pedestrians or cyclists. However, while pedestrians have the luxury of using pavements, cyclists are forced to use the roads, often travelling in the same lanes as buses and lorries in rush hour traffic. 

Improvement schemes are on their way, with many cities now trying to cater for cyclists by building indicative cycle lanes. But these roads are still shared with vehicles, often travelling at high speed where a small mistake could be deadly. As such, deliberations are ongoing as to how effective these solutions are, and work continues in order to understand what needs to be done to ensure the safety of cyclists.

So, how can we further improve road safety and quality of life for cyclists? And what would roads look like if human beings were at the core of the guidance rather than capacity, speed and free flow of traffic? 

The Netherlands is well known for its positive ratio between cyclists and collision rates. As such, one way to answer these questions is to learn from the Dutch ‘Sustainable Safety’ approach, based on the principle that human lives are the most important element in road design, superseding traffic flow and capacity. Whether it is using a car or bike, or simply crossing the road, safety is the most important factor in this approach and, therefore, the main objectives are to minimise road collisions and serious injuries by putting the person at the forefront of decision-making. 

In order to make this reality, a number of principles implemented for road safety on motorways are transferred to the urban environment such as segregating slow traffic and fast moving vehicles, designing a forgiving road environment that anticipates road user behaviour and creating roads that support user expectation through consistency and continuity of road design.

To find out more about this approach and how this can be implemented in the UK, we welcome you to join Arcadis at Transforming London’s Streets on 23 September in Southwark, London. 

Peter Siemensma is a senior transport planner at Arcadis