Road Safety & Vision Zero Plan

[W. K. Lis]

In urban areas, as the very least (and all areas would be ideal), there cannot be slip lanes leading into ramp access.

Slip lanes are effectively instructions to drivers to begin gaining speed immediately on entering the lane, prior to being on the actual ramp.

Many ramp designs actually reflect this, in being a bit short to serve as full on acceleration lanes to highway speed.

So a driver entering a highway from a 50km/ph road, is intuitively being told to hit 70km/ph by the time they turn parallel to the highway, even if signage instructs differently.

Highway access ramps should be hard right turns, from a regulated intersection with the acceleration done entirely on the ramp itself, after passing any pedestrian/cyclist crossing.

This would likely require lengthening several ramps to provide more acceleration room at highway level.

An expensive, but very justifiable investment.

Further, where bike lanes cross a highway, they need to have cycle track style protection wherever feasible.

Clearly that protection won't exist when literally crossing the highway access point; but it would serve to further reduce conflicts and risks, and slow drivers from making sharp or quick turns, if that meant mounting a curb.

One suggested remedy. Will not be used in Ontario because we did not "invent" it.

From link. BTW the "shark's teeth" mean "YIELD" to the vehicles already in the ramp. Also will not be used in Ontario, because we do not know what "yield" means.

 

[Undead]

Ramps should also be as narrow as possible to force drivers to slow down where pedestrians and cyclists are crossing. Combined with hardened turn geometry, there's no reason we can't force drivers to slow down to 40 when exiting or entering a ramp. As a driver, I would welcome this and feel much safer if I know the infrastructure around me is designed for better pedestrian and cyclist safety.

 

[crs1026]

As a motoist, the more separation of “shared use” and the less ambiguity there is over the intentions and degree of right of way held by pedestrians, the happier I will be. Especially on right turns. If it means I have to wait a little longer, so be it. The comingling of the two often makes it very hard to judge what’s safe.

- Paul

 

[kEiThZ]

I hate painted bicycle gutters. I will never ride on them. I don't think they are safe. And I think they are particularly ridiculous in suburbia where cars drive faster and there is literally nobody on the sidewalks.

 

[Undead]

Apart from road geometry changes, we need to implement pedestrian protection regulations for vehicle design like EuroNCAP has done.

These days, even large SUVs like the Audi Q7 and Tesla Model X (plucked randomly from EuroNCAP's website as high performers) do quite well in protecting pedestrians and cyclists.

Smaller sedans like the BMW 3 Series (again, just randomly plucked as a high performer) fare even better.

These results are achieved by changing the shape of a vehicle's hood, headlights and front bumper.

My impression is that with the right front end design, a 40 km/h impact becomes survivable and injuries are minor.

Combined with improving automatic braking and pedestrian/cyclist detection systems, we can greatly improve safety for vulnerable road users with tech/design that's already here.

AEB especially makes me optimistic. The best systems on the market currently can easily reduce your speed by 25-30 km/h in an instant before impact. This downgrades the 40 km/h impact I described above to 10-15 km/h which is completely survivable with negligible injuries.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Apart from road geometry changes, we need to implement pedestrian protection regulations for vehicle design like EuroNCAP has done.

These days, even large SUVs like the Audi Q7 and Tesla Model X (plucked randomly from EuroNCAP's website as high performers) do quite well in protecting pedestrians and cyclists.

Smaller sedans like the BMW 3 Series (again, just randomly plucked as a high performer) fare even better.

These results are achieved by changing the shape of a vehicle's hood, headlights and front bumper.

My impression is that with the right front end design, a 40 km/h impact becomes survivable and injuries are minor.

Combined with improving automatic braking and pedestrian/cyclist detection systems, we can greatly improve safety for vulnerable road users with tech/design that's already here.

AEB especially makes me optimistic. The best systems on the market currently can easily reduce your speed by 25-30 km/h in an instant before impact. This downgrades the 40 km/h impact I described above to 10-15 km/h which is completely survivable with negligible injuries.

The problem would be having to rely on computer chips. The chips need to be upgradable, replaceable, and updateable. Preferably, as cheaply as possible. (These days, there is a computer chip shortage, because of COVID-19.)

 

[lenaitch]

As a motoist, the more separation of “shared use” and the less ambiguity there is over the intentions and degree of right of way held by pedestrians, the happier I will be. Especially on right turns. If it means I have to wait a little longer, so be it. The comingling of the two often makes it very hard to judge what’s safe.

- Paul

I agree. Although I grew up in the city and used to drive delivery trucks, I'm no longer accomplished at it. The few times I am deep into the city, right turns scare the pants off me because of the bikes, where it used to be left turns were the scary ones. My truck has a camera down the right side, which is handy for this but the wife's little SUV does not.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Sometimes the most expensive solution for pedestrian safety has the opposite outcome...

Pedestrian bridge collapses onto DC freeway, injuring several people​

From link.

A pedestrian bridge that likely was struck by at least one vehicle collapsed onto Interstate 295 in Washington, DC, injuring several people and blocking the highway in both directions, officials said Wednesday.
Chris Geldart, acting deputy mayor for public safety and justice, told reporters that preliminary evidence shows that a collision involving multiple vehicles occurred 10 minutes before noon. The bridge came off its moorings.
The span collapsed at Kenilworth Avenue before Polk Street NE, DC Fire and EMS said in a tweet. "We don't have any structural concerns about the bridge. It was last inspected in February," Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
Geldart said five people taken to hospitals had non-life-threatening injuries.

Images posted by DC Fire and EMS and aerial footage from CNN affiliate WJLA show one side of the bridge fell onto I-295 southbound, while the part of the bridge on the northbound side remains mostly attached to an elevated platform.
Mangled concrete and metal debris are sprawled across six lanes of highway and the bridge rests on top of several vehicles.

A hazmat unit was on scene mitigating a diesel fuel leak from a truck that is partially beneath the bridge, and at least one other vehicle was struck by debris, DC Fire and EMS said.
All lanes on I-295 were blocked north of Benning Avenue, according to a tweet from Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination (MATOC). Northbound delays stretched about 3 miles, while southbound lanes had delays of approximately 1.5 miles as of 1 p.m. ET, MATOC said.
Washington Metropolitan Police Department are in the early stages of investigating the collapse, said department spokesperson Alaina Gertz.
Geldart said it could take through Thursday to get the bridge moved off the highway. He said the bridge will likely need to be replaced but the city needs to inspect the damage first.
Inspectors are looking at other bridges in the area, Geldart said.

 

[afransen]

From link. BTW the "shark's teeth" mean "YIELD" to the vehicles already in the ramp. Also will not be used in Ontario, because we do not know what "yield" means.

'Sharks teeth' yield markings are pretty commonly used in Ontario. How much drivers understand this is maybe a challenge. It might warrant some signs explaining what it means as education.

 

[afransen]

My impression is that with the right front end design, a 40 km/h impact becomes survivable and injuries are minor.

30 kph is survivable. 40 kph not so much. Maybe with very careful vehicle design, but all we are eking out is 10 kph higher design speed. My two cents is we should seek to design roadways for 30 kph at conflict points and bank the safety saving from more sophisticated pedestrian crash avoidance systems etc.

 

[lenaitch]

How much drivers understand this is maybe a challenge.

Methinks you are being generous.

 

[Undead]

30 kph is survivable. 40 kph not so much. Maybe with very careful vehicle design, but all we are eking out is 10 kph higher design speed. My two cents is we should seek to design roadways for 30 kph at conflict points and bank the safety saving from more sophisticated pedestrian crash avoidance systems etc.

Good point. I'm also excited for further advances in safety tech that will help make 70 km/h midblock accidents survivable. This will be done when pedestrian detection and automatic braking systems advance enough to reduce speed by 40-50 km/h in an instant.

 

[crs1026]

'Sharks teeth' yield markings are pretty commonly used in Ontario. How much drivers understand this is maybe a challenge. It might warrant some signs explaining what it means as education.

I will confess I only recently learned the meaning of this signage. Explains some of the horn tooting I experienced ”over the pond”, perhaps. Like other road paint, it has no regulatory authority, it’s simply a driver aid.

The point I would make is that there is no requirement in North America for driver requalification. Anything new that is added to signage over time - the whole marking of bicycle lanes included, for example - may not be within the knowledge base of a great many motorists. We often don’t know what we don’t know. A huge hole in the safety system for roads.

- Paul

 

[lenaitch]

I will confess I only recently learned the meaning of this signage. Explains some of the horn tooting I experienced ”over the pond”, perhaps. Like other road paint, it has no regulatory authority, it’s simply a driver aid.

The point I would make is that there is no requirement in North America for driver requalification. Anything new that is added to signage over time - the whole marking of bicycle lanes included, for example - may not be within the knowledge base of a great many motorists. We often don’t know what we don’t know. A huge hole in the safety system for roads.

- Paul

This. Without some kind of requalification, we are left with press releases and the insert in the plate renewal letter. I also confess that it took me quite a while to realize what they meant, and the missus was unaware that you now had to wait for a pedestrian to completely clear a pedestrian crossover.

Much as I dislike a forest of signs, road markings have no force in law.

 

[crs1026]

This. Without some kind of requalification, we are left with press releases and the insert in the plate renewal letter. I also confess that it took me quite a while to realize what they meant, and the missus was unaware that you now had to wait for a pedestrian to completely clear a pedestrian crossover.

Much as I dislike a forest of signs, road markings have no force in law.

A pet peeve - very few people understand the HTO meaning of the term "crossover". Common usage (and historical, pre-nonverbal signage, actually) terms this a "crosswalk".

The rules for yielding right of way to pedestrians at a controlled intersection gets trampled as a result. When people hear discussion of "crosswalks" they assume the discussion is about mid-block crossovers, not intersections.

Another example of how terminology (and rules) may have changed since many took driving lessons.

- Paul