Outside central areas only a relatively small proportion of urban accidents may occur in clusters sufficiently large to justify the use of site-specific engineering remedies. Low-cost measures, combined to produce an area-wide effect are already used in environmental improvement schemes to discourage through-traffic from entering residential streets, to reduce the speed of access traffic and to make drivers more aware of the dangers inherent in the residential environment. The data available suggest that the same measures might be effective in reducing accidents, not only on residential streets but also on arterial routes. The process of implementation falls into two stages, (1) a limited number of measures, applied according to prescribed criteria, to strengthen the hierarchic structure of the street system and to improve the quality of its various parts, and (2) a wide range of measures, applied according to a developed strategy, to deal with those accidents not covered by the first stage measures. This stage would provide a permanent monitoring system. The process is described in detail and a possible project to demonstrate it is outlined. (Author/publisher)
Abstract