Traffic calming techniques have not been applied to "existing" residential areas in Northern Ireland (NI) and in the past few years Road Service planners and the general public have been in conflict with regard to the lack of such schemes. Rat-running is endemic in Belfast and the NI child casualty figures of 1,273 in 1990 (many of which occurred in street play) are still rising. Thus the WHO Healthy City Project - Belfast, commissioned the Department of Civil Engineering and Transport, University of Ulster at Jordanstown to conduct an innovative pilot study in three urban villages in Belfast. The main objective was to reduce rat-running by enabling local residents to design traffic calming schemes, based on data obtained by the residents using accepted methods, which could then be implemented by roadplanners and engineers. It was anticipated that this unique approach would reduce "confrontation" between planners and communities and that such a procedure would be followed by other cities in the Healthy City Project. The role of the consultants was that of educator, trainer and facilitator. During the months prior to the surveys, meetings were held with local groups to inform residents with regard to health hazards and disbenefits from traffic and to introduce them to traffic calming techniques. During March the consultants trained residents in the following techniques: traffic counts; household surveys; origin-destination flow paths; and hazard identification. Surveys were then undertaken and traffic calming schemes designed by the professionals in conjunction with residents and the planning authorities, the final plans being approved by the residents before being passed to the planners for inception. The paper concludes by indicating some of the solutions proposed by the residents and shows how these were co-ordinated with the various surface treatments and technical data provided by the highway engineers and planners.
Samenvatting