Space-sharing of the same area of street by pedestrians and vehicles can be employed to make greater use of the whole right-of-way width. Statistics suggest that in streets that have been almost accident-free for a few years the introduction of kerbless surfacing does not make matters noticeably worse, but data are insufficient to permit accurate rates to be calculated. Investigations have been made in two streets in central oxford where buses operate among pedestrians on kerbless surfaces. Photographic studies show that vehicles and pedestrians interact resulting in a pedestrian-free space ahead of a moving vehicle which extends much further than its stopping point at any time, so that the driver should be able to stop comfortably should a pedestrian fail to get out of the way. Comparisons of user behaviour when the surface consisted of concrete slabs throughout, and when there were slabs at the side of the street and asphalt in the middle, showed that the former produced comparable degrees of space-sharing at lower pedestrian concentrations. (Author/publisher)
Abstract