Before and after studies to reduce the gap between road users and authorities

Abstract

The paramount importance of safety for busy urban roads always comes from the responsibility towards protecting the vulnerable road users, who seem to be the victims in most road crashes. Thus, authorities tend to focus on reducing the travelling speed of the vehicles, whereas some road users may consider the move to interfere with mobility. In this paper, a case study in Perth’s two roads was conducted to compare two engineering treatments of speed reductions on these two busy shopping strips. The study aim is to illustrate the effect of using the electronic flashing signs rather than the standard signs in terms of speeding reduction and harm minimisation. Crash data were analysed and supported the safety benefits of the electronic flashing signs. In terms of speeding, a Chi-Square analysis showed that there is an association between the engineering treatment type and the three detected speeding levels. Authorities have measures the reduction of the travelling speeds of vehicles and found it to be encouraging. The study found that despite the reduced crashes of after the treatments, but the public seem to show different attitudes to the above safety issue. The study has shown that certain engineering measures can reduce the travelling speed of the vehicles without disturbing mobility. Road users are is concerned with delay and other behavioural issue as the results of the questionnaires reveal. There are clear, positive safety benefits from the case study.