One of the measures intended to improve conditions for pedestrians in London has been the installation of Side Raised Entry Treatments (SRET) across side roads at their junctions with major roads. This report concerns a large scale statistical analysis of the collision record of SRETs which was undertaken together with an in-depth study of users’ behaviour at a small selection of junctions with and without SRETs. The statistical model estimated that there was no overall change in the total number of collisions due to SRETs on the TLRN. However, on Borough roads an overall reduction in the number of collisions after installation of a SRET was modelled. It is not clear from the study of users’ behaviour whether pedestrians expect drivers to give way at SRETs. At two sites, one control and one with a SRET, a significant minority of pedestrians appeared to assert priority and force drivers to give way to them, but overall there was no clear difference in pedestrians’ expectation of priority between SRET and control sites. Pedestrians appeared to like the convenience of crossing the side road at a SRET, where the SRET provided a continuous level place to cross between the footways either side of the side road. Significantly fewer people diverted from the natural crossing line to walk behind a stationary vehicle, and avoid delay, at sites with a SRET than at the controls. The benefit of the convenient informal crossing appeared to exceed the disbenefit of the extra delay of waiting for the vehicle to clear. Neither the observational study nor the collision modelling raised particular issues for children or older pedestrians. (Author/publisher)
Abstract