Most measures in order to increase traffic safety for unprotected road users are measures which separate vehicles from pedestrians or bicyclists in time or space. This paper presents some results from empirical studies at pedestrian crossings concerning the proportion of pedestrians who can cross the street without disturbing or being disturbed by vehicles. This proportion of pedestrians is defined as the degree of separation between vehicles and pedestrians. Video techniques were used for the measurements. Both theoretical calculations and empirical measurements of the degree of separation have been made for the central part of Linköping at 16 randomly chosen pedestrian crossings. The observation period at each crossing was 90 minutes distributed on three 30-minute periods during daytime for three weekdays. From this it has been possible to estimate the traffic composition during different hours of the day for the central part of the city. By comparing the total degree of separation of pedestrians during different periods of the day and accidents for the corresponding periods, relationships between risk (number of collisions between vehicles and pedestrians per pedestrian and pedestrian crossing) and pedestrian flow for different degrees of separation have been calculated.(a) for the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD abstract no 264967.
Samenvatting