The safety and environmental benefits of slower speeds have been demonstrated. Physical traffic calming measures can achieve these in ways which are popular and affordable. A speed management strategy, it is suggested, should be based on a speed classification of roads not simply on notional traffic hierarchies. The area-wide approach to defining traffic hierarchies is also questioned in congested urban conditions where it provokes public hostility and makes implementation of traffic calming more difficult. An alternative speed management approach in London is described. To be fully effective, speed management and traffic calming require the overhaul of road design standards and guidelines. On main roads a willingness to use sufficiently severe measures to reduce speeds is needed. Radical changes are also needed to limit the production and promotion of cars which have a performance better suited to the race track than to public roads. Britain has as yet taken only hesitant steps towards traffic calming and lacks a policy framework. However, interest is growing amongst local authorities and ways must be found to foster initiative and innovation. (A)
Abstract