Retrofitting our streets is the optimal road safety solution
'Cutting traffic speed promotes walking and cycling and brings public health gains that are accentuated by critical mass effects.' File piture: iStock
The father of a young boy who was killed after a driver failed to stop at a pedestrian crossing has called for better enforcement of road safety laws.
Eight-year-old André Castro Ladeiro died after being struck by a pick-up truck in Carrigaline, Co Cork, in August 2023.
"Things that we see on the roads that are against the rules just make us mad," said André's dad Cesar Ladeiro.
"You cannot imagine how we boil from the inside seeing someone not stopping at a red light."
Enforcement of the law must be a priority, but there are other reasons why recent decades have seen the roads become increasingly dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.
The increasing size of cars, with high hoods, pose distinct safety hazards.
The optimal solution exists.
Retrofitting streets to make them safe for everyone using smaller vehicles — cars, bikes and scooters — as well as government policy that incentivises a comprehensive shift away from cars towards public transport and active travel.
Other cities in Europe are way ahead of Ireland in this shift, and it is reflected in their figures on road safety, fossil fuel emissions, air pollution, and the liveability of cities.
Why are we so slow to take necessary steps to slash fossil fuel emissions and make streets safer and healthier for everyone?
The ongoing trend for bigger and heavier cars continues.
The European non-profit Transport and Environment report that the size of the average car is growing at a rate of 1cm every 2 years.
With this increase in size comes problems, from safety hazards to fossil fuel emissions.
Added to that is the real problem of manoeuvring cars the size of small tanks along narrow streets and parking spaces designed for much smaller models.
Cars have grown in size for lots of reasons.
The addition of safety features like lateral and frontal airbags and ‘crumple zones’ require more space while consumers seek out the added status, luxury, and style.
In the EU, the average width of new cars is more than 180cm, often seen as a lower threshold for on-street parking in Europe.
The rising emissions that come with bigger vehicles is also a concern.
A report by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) highlights how despite all vehicles being at record low C02 emissions, market shifts away from cars and towards SUVs and pickups have offset some of the fleet-wide benefits.
The trending design towards high hoods pose distinct safety hazards.
A US study of nearly 18,000 crashes involving pedestrians found that SUVs and vans with a hood height of greater than 102cm were 45% more likely to cause fatalities than those with a height of 76cm or less.
Another US study of 3,400 vehicles reported that raising the front-end vehicle height by 10cm increased the risk of pedestrian fatality by over a fifth (22%).
These larger hoods are causing frontal blind spots that can lead to fatal accidents.
Some cities are introducing policies to disincentivise the shift towards heavier cars.
Paris voted to triple the parking fees for visitor’s SUVs in its streets.
New York is proposing to rein in large cars through tax policies, like weight-based registration fees.
An alternative to singling out large cars is a policy to encourage other forms of transport altogether that shift people out of cars onto public transport and active travel.
Ireland has taken the first step towards lowering speed limits with the introduction of a 60km speed limit on local roads this month, to be followed later in the year with a drop in speed limits in built-up urban areas, from 50kmh to 30kmh, and a reduction of speed limits on national secondary roads from 100kmh to 80kmh.
"We want safer roads and safer communities — that is what we are trying to highlight to people," a department spokesperson said.
"If people slow down it makes the road safer for everybody."
There is evidence to back this up.
A study published in Injury Prevention (2009) found that traffic speeds and volumes are inversely related to walking and cycling levels.
As one side of the equation rises, the other fall.
Cutting traffic speed promotes walking and cycling and brings public health gains that are accentuated by critical mass effects.
What this means is that with more cyclists and walkers, safety increased due to their visibility and popularity, making drivers more aware of vulnerable road users.
In 2012, Bristol found introducing a 20mph speed limit led to an increase in walking of 23% and an increase in cycling of 20.5%.
One year after the introduction of a 30kmh limit in Bologna in Italy no pedestrians have died for the first time in decades.
European cities have shown that the introduction of reduced speed limits, followed by investment in public transport does not lead to longer traffic times for motorists but rather promotes substantial traffic calming.
Road safety is a key reason why many commuters, including school children, are deterred from cycling.
The introduction of 30kmh speed limits is an opportunity to further enhance the safety of cycling by improving the cycling infrastructure.
The Dutch, who have mastered the art of world class cycling infrastructure, advise focusing simultaneously on key areas to incentivise more and more commuters using bikes to get around cities, including:
- Cycling infrastructure should provide good connectivity between all origins and destinations;
- Directness: road authorities should minimise detours and delays for cyclists;
- Safety: road authorities should minimise the number of conflicts between more traffic and cycle traffic;
- Comfort: cycling infrastructure should allow for comfortable manoeuvring;
- Attractiveness: as slower modes of movement are more sensitive to the quality of urban space, cycle routes should be attractive spaces to traverse.
It’s not a pick’n’mix — all five policies are required.
What is needed now is a comprehensive shift towards smaller cars, lower speed limits and better cycling and pedestrian infrastructure.
All these steps taken together can have multiple benefits: fewer road deaths, less congestion, lowered fossil fuel emissions, less air pollutiona, nd better healthier more liveable cities.
So what are we waiting for?
- Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork.
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