The research reported in this paper involved an evaluation of the potential for widespread application of low-cost accident countermeasures in residential areas where, typically, vehicular and pedestrian volumes are relatively low. It presents a summary of the procedure by which the countermeasures were evaluated against certain criteria and then compared one with another, in order that the most promising could be identified. Fifty three countermeasures were identified, within six strategies. Most have been applied in the UK, although not necessarily in residential areas or as a single measure. Evidence of the effectiveness of individual countermeasures is rare as most are commonly used as components of an overall traffic or environmental management scheme. Furthermore, despite the relatively widespread use of some of the devices, in general little examination of their effectiveness appears to have been undertaken. As a result this evaluation, in some respects, is subjective. The framework however, has been designed with this in mind and allows the adoption of alternative value-judgements and the consideration of their implications on the results of the evaluation. The results presented, where firm evidence does not exist are based on a range of plausible judgements and are relatively stable with respect to them. The research was carried out under contract to the transport and road research laboratory.(a) for the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD abstract no 264967.
Abstract