It seems like everywhere we look these days we find cars. They are in our cities and suburbs. Even out in the country, there seem to be more cars today than ever before. Perhaps that’s why traffic calming is one of the hottest things in road design right now.
Traffic calming is a road design principle developed to better control and manage traffic, thereby reducing crashes and the injuries and deaths resulting from them. Traffic calming strategies can include everything from speed bumps and traffic control devices to complete road redesigns that manage flow more effectively.
UK drivers may encounter traffic calming devices and find themselves frustrated by them. After all, slowing traffic translates to needing more time to get somewhere. But there are particularly good reasons for calming things down on the roads. Traffic calming is made necessary by the alarming number of accidents that occur throughout the UK.
Why It’s Necessary
According to the Brake road safety charity, traffic related death or serious injury occurs every 17 minutes. That is pretty scary if you spend a lot of time driving. But there’s more. Check out these 2023 statistics from Brake:
- 1,695 people died in car crashes.
- 28,967 were seriously injured.
- Road deaths were up by 5%.
Setting aside the pandemic years, we are seeing little change in the number of accident-related injuries and deaths over the last 10 years. Seeing no improvement suggests that we need to do something different. Enter traffic calming.
Traffic Calming Objectives
By strict definition, traffic calming consists of the entire compendium of physical design features and other measures implemented for the purposes of keeping traffic under control. Given that there is so much variation between road features and driving habits, there are multiple ways to achieve calming.
Here are the main objectives of the traffic calming principal:
- Enhancing safety by reducing vehicle speeds.
- Achieving balance between different modes of transportation.
- Improving community liveability and walkability.
- Decreasing both the volume and severity of car crashes.
At the forefront of traffic calming is changing driver behaviour. Drivers are ultimately responsible for what happens on the roads. They are the ones creating the traffic that needs to be controlled.
Common Traffic Calming Devices
So, how do regulators and engineers calm traffic down? They employ a variety of devices based on the needs and circumstances of each individual scenario. Below are a number of devices that appear pretty popular right now:
1. Deflection Devices
Vertical deflection is a fancy way to describe making driving uncomfortable by causing a car to bounce up and down. As such, vertical deflection devices – like speed bumps, raised intersections, and speed tables – can be very effective in encouraging drivers to slow down.
2. Traffic Shifts
Cars driving in a straight line are more likely to go faster. So if you can shift traffic, you can also slow it. Traffic shift devices include things like curb extensions and chicanes. Lane shifts can also be quite effective in modifying vehicle speed and trajectory.
3. Road Narrowing
Purposely creating traffic choke points further calms traffic. Engineers accomplished this by narrowing roads and road surface area as well as subsequently expanding pedestrian spaces. Drivers naturally slow down in order to avoid pedestrians.
4. Closures and Diversions
In urban areas where traffic congestion is significant, targeted closures and diversions can help a great deal. Closures and diversions interrupt the normal flow associated with grid patterns. They can also reduce or eliminate cut-through traffic.
5. Redesigned Intersections
Intersection redesign is all about traffic calming in the 2020s. Engineers design roundabouts and diverging diamonds into their intersections to purposely reduce vehicle speeds.
All the devices mentioned in this list have slowing vehicle speeds at their core. But slowing down cars and trucks doesn’t fully achieve traffic calming objectives. It is also important to encourage drivers to pay better attention.
Visual and Psychological Cues
Engineers can implement visual and psychological cues that help drivers pay attention more effectively. For example, trees and landscaped medians demand attention as drivers pass by. Likewise for on-street parking and dense construction.
Another tactic is coordinating signal timing along busy corridors. Proper timing doesn’t allow drivers to travel great distances without having to stop. Having to pay attention to signals keeps a driver’s mind on the task at hand.
Implementation at Multiple Levels
One last thing to consider is that traffic calming strategies can be implemented at multiple levels. Engineers can work at the intersection, street, or neighbourhood level. They can also apply traffic common principles across wide urban and suburban areas during the planning process.
Traffic calming is all about getting cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles under control so that everyone is safer. As traffic increases and motor vehicles become more common, traffic calming becomes more critical to every driver, cyclist, and pedestrian.
