Urban street design is a matter of local road authorities. However, the Dutch national government has provided general ‘recommendations for traffic provisions in built-up areas’. These recommendations are currently being revised. The main goal of the revision is to implement the principles of a ‘Sustainably Safe Traffic and Transport System’. These principles aim at a traffic and transport system which is inherently safe: prevention (before accidents happen) is better than curing (after accidents have occurred). The application of these principles to residential street design will result in a type of design which is close to our ‘traditional design’ (streets with a speed limit of 30 km/h). However, the design of main streets (distributors) will be quite different from the design we are used to. This paper focuses on the knowledge required to design inherently safe distributor roads without disturbing the many functions (for public transport, shopping, delivering of goods, parking) of this type of street too much. The paper describes the ‘ideal’ inherently safe distributor, and confronts this design with the possibilities and impossibilities caused by the urban functions and demands. (A)
Samenvatting