Urban planners have long been grappling with the conflict between vehicle and pedestrian but their segregation, which drove the creation of raised roadways, underground car parks and pedestrian shopping centres in the 1960s, has given way more recently to the concept of "shared spaces".
Ashford in Kent is often held up as a model of just such an urban landscape after the council introduced new speed restrictions and removed all the street furniture – including most curbs – that divided vehicles and pedestrians. Initial results have been positive, with no deaths recorded since the new area was introduced well over a year ago, but some disability rights campaigners maintain that shared spaces can become no-go areas for blind and partially sighted people.
Shared space schemes are often opposed by the pro-motoring lobby, who say other road users are getting in the way of drivers, but there is little evidence they slow down motorists and such schemes are common on the continent.
Three years before the Department for Transport set out its 10-year vision in Tomorrow's Roads: Safer for Everyone, the Swedish government took the radical step of deciding that by 2020 all traffic accident fatalities would be eradicated. Its Vision Zero plan takes a holistic approach to road safety that includes traffic calming on a national scale. The Swedish road network has been upgraded, replacing junctions with roundabouts and introducing speed bumps in urban areas. The results are impressive, with 6.5 deaths per 100,000 in 1995 falling to 4.9 a decade later, the lowest in Europe.
The equivalent road fatality figure for the UK had already come down from 6.1 per 100,000 in 1995 to 5.4 in 2005, through awareness campaigns and road maintenance, rather than the sort of investment seen in Sweden.
There is growing evidence of the benefit of simple engineering measures, most recently outlined in the latest EuroRAP report. The introduction of 20mph zones in towns is one good example. Portsmouth city council has received numerous accolades for its scheme, which was completed in 2008 and has seen the creation of six 20mph zones in the city. Rather than relying upon speed bumps and other traffic calming measures, the zone is marked by large speed signs at its entrance and smaller ones regularly along all routes.
Angela Gill, the council's transport planning manager, said the average speed on these roads was already about 24mph; or not more than 20% above the new limit, meaning that under the government's guidelines the council was able to introduce the scheme without needing ministerial approval – and the average speed has dropped.
Most crashes on Britain's roads occur in rural areas, especially at junctions, which account for one third of all fatal and serious collisions, according to the Road Safety Foundation. Integrating road markings with better signage at junctions, however, has reduced accidents by 41%, research from the AA reveals.
'A pot of paint will save a life'
Many of the roads in recent EuroRAP assessments that have improved most have done so through better road markings. Road markings feature in 70% of accident improvements a year according to the AA, and as George Lee, managing director of the Road Safety Marking Association (RSMA), says: "The price of a pot of paint will save a life." Even something as simple as putting edge lines on rural roads can reduce accidents by 30% overall – and by 68% at night.
According to the RSMA's research the introduction of water resistant white paint by Durham county council three years ago helped halve the number of accidents on improved roads. Research by consultancy TRL showed the average reduction in accidents for road marking schemes was 32% while research by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents calculated that markings reduce accidents by 34%.
Road safety need not be compromised, even at a time when budgets are contracting. If low cost programmes have some of the highest returns available anywhere in the European economy – it would be foolish for the UK not to pursue them.
