attraversamento con isola salvagente e cargo bike

Traffic calming & widespread cycling

Abstract in inglese del mio intervento al convegno Fit to Drive, 8th International Traffic Expert Congresse – Novotel Warszawa Centrum tenutosi a Varsavia l’8/9 maggio 2014

The flaws in policy have a detrimental influence on car drivers’ behaviour, among others a lack in respect for pedestrians and cyclists.
In urban areas, 80-90% of pedestrians and cyclists involved in accidents are injured, compared to 5-10% of motorists. In absolute figures, in 2013 in Italy there were 186.726 accidents with 3.653 fatal accidents and 264.716 injured people. This is a high factor, which affects the livability of our cities, causing a social cost to the community. In Italy, it is equal to 2% of GDP (30 billion euro).

The first and most important issue that actions for the defense and spread of urban cycling have to deal with is therefore the development of a general “bicycle-friendly” environment, where cyclists and pedestrians can move comfortably and safely.
In order to defend and promote cycling as a primary means of transport, it is important to identify and implement a Strategic Cycle Network (Bicycle Master Plan) and a general redesign of roads – through traffic calming and 30 km/h Zones – whose main goal is to reduce speed, the crucial element of danger.

Except on primary roads, separated and protected cycling routes are not necessary. In the heart of the city, cycling lanes and tracks are in fact a clear demonstration of the failure of the speed moderation approach.

However, what kind of cycle infrastructures should be developed in the planning stage of main roads in urban areas? Cycling lanes or cycling tracks?
In Countries having an advanced cycling planning, cycling lanes are now much preferred – although this is a seemingly more vulnerable solution – it is actually used by many users, as it can provide them with a significant level of protection.
Why this choice?
First of all, it is a matter of safety at intersections: the Countries which have experienced and advanced cycling culture show that the urban trips on cycling tracks running alongside the carriageways are often not safer than the ones directly made on carriageways; in the case of cycling tracks, the accident risk even increases at the intersections.
The second question concerns the space available for the realization of cycling paths.
Generally speaking, in Italy, like in many other European Countries, the roads have limited spaces and it is very hard – sometimes impossible – to insert a high capacity cycling track, ensuring high travelling speed to cyclists who are going to work, school, etc. Nowadays, our urban roads do not have space enough for cycling tracks like in Denmark or The Netherlands, Countries that have planned their cities around cycling for more than 40 years. Moreover, the realization of the cycling tracks on the secondary and local urban roads commonly has shown that they are not successfully used by all the cyclists.

This is an example of a safety and redesign of a primary road, as well as an example of the implementation of a primary cycling route.
To confirm that designing of infrastructures affects our behaviors as a driver, in the last six years before the project was implemented, along the involved section more than 319 car accidents happened, with a total of 420 injuries and 3 fatal accidents.
In order to reduce accidents and speeds, as well as to ensure a higher safety on pedestrians, cyclists and motorists, a central multifunctional strip was introduced in the carriageway.
Furthermore, the following measures were introduced: central “safety islands” to protect the pedestrians and cyclists road crossings at pelicans; raised pedestrian crossings on sides of the streets to give continuity to the pedestrian paths; drains for cyclists and lowered curbs to facilitate cyclists along the cycling lanes.

Results provided by the Municipality in relation to the cycling flows and accidents are encouraging.
Between 2009 and 2012, there was a 9.6% increase in bicycle access to the historic Centre and a 6.6% reduction of accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists.

In Italy, there are still few experiences of 30 km/h Zones. Their benefits are not adequately explained, the issue of the road safety and accident rates are not vigorously treated, mainly because our politicians seem to be afraid of losing support.
However, people seem to be ready for a change. Let’s consider residential streets not only as axes for motorized traffic flows but primarily as spaces for relationships among a variety of users and functions, as demonstrated by the success of the “experiment” that I personally tested in Terni, the Italian town near Rome.
Assuming that infrastructures influence our behavior, together with the local community, we temporarily redesigned the parking stalls along a stretch of a residential road, in order to break the straight continuity of the carriageway and create some “chicanes” to prevent any higher than 30 Km/h speeds.
In two days, we showed that this was possible even at low costs; most of all benefits were immediately perceived by the road users, teenagers have been able to re-appropriate the freed space of the cars, and the initiative was so successful that the residents themselves collected signatures to ask the Municipality for their intervention to keep it as a permanent solution.

Lascia un commento

Il tuo indirizzo email non sarà pubblicato. I campi obbligatori sono contrassegnati *

Torna in alto