A project designed to develop and test traffic calming techniques which make greater use of psychological rather than physical measures is described. The project included: a review; identification of further innovative measures; assessment of a selection of psychological and other measures using photomontage techniques and the TRL driving simulator; identification of trial sites; monitoring of selected sites; and interpretation of the results and recommendations. It was found that a combination of measures gave greater speed reductions than individual measures used alone and that physically narrowing the road reduced reported speeds. In the simulator trial using village gateways alone had little effect on speed, coloured surfacing was ineffective, driver uncertainty reduced speed, and where speed reductions were achieved, it was the faster drivers who slowed most. One scheme was laid out at Latton, Wiltshire, including stone gateways, build-outs with planting to create new parking bays, removal of the centre white line, enhancements of the main junction, buff surfacing near bus stops, a new bus bay and height reduction of lighting columns to befit a minor road (former A road bypassed by new road). The scheme reduced mean traffic speeds by 4-8mph to 37mph. Over half of vehicles still exceeded the new 30mph speed limit. Three-quarters of residents supported the scheme and two-thirds thought it had reduced speeds. The scheme cost around £40,000 but gave greater speed reductions than only reducing the speed limit. It is concluded that there is no simple, unique, widely applicable psychological measure for traffic calming.
Samenvatting