Designing a safer traffic environment : European approaches. Paper presented at the Traffic Safety Summit '98, Lodge at Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, October 4-7, 1998.

The competition over space in cities has become a more urgent question. Cars require a great amount of space for driving and parking. This space has in part been taken from pedestrian areas such as parks, open places and sidewalks. With its weight and speed, car driving shows its power over the pedestrians and cyclists. A constant stream of cars creates a barrier that blocks passage and contact on the different sides of a street (Appleyard 19981) But the most obvious threat from car traffic is the risk of being hit (Draskoszy 1991). Approximately 15-25% of those killed in traffic accidents are unprotected road-users in highly motorised countries, in developing countries with low motorised degree up to 40-50%. Special vulnerable groups are children (Sandels 1968) and the elderly people (Morton 1995). Nevertheless, it is the car driver's speed that seriously injures the vulnerable road-users. A collision speed of 30 km/h implies a survival rate of 90% if a pedestrian is hit; the survival rate at 50 km/h is 50%. Greater speeds lead to more and more serious injuries. (Author/publisher)