The WalkSafe Program aims to reduce the incidence and severity of pedestrian crashes in urban areas. It combines the traditional elements of engineering, education, enforcement and promotions/publicity. Instead of occurring largely independently of each other, the planning and implementation of these elements takes place in a co-ordinated manner involving key agencies. WalkSafe represents a well targeted intervention program based on analysis of crash data. The initial WalkSafe program has been based in a municipality which features a number of arterial roads that carry large volumes of traffic and where traffic flow is affected by the presence of trams. Amongst the engineering countermeasures employed under the WalkSafe program one innovative approach has been the provision of a painted strip between the two inside tram tracks. This was designed to lower the risk to pedestrians crossing by encouraging greater lane discipline by drivers, simplifying the road crossing task for pedestrians and encouraging more orderly positioning as they pause in the centre of the road during crossing. An evaluation of the impact of this countermeasure on pedestrian and driver behaviour has been commenced and gives some preliminary indication of the effectiveness of this engineering treatment. (A)
Abstract