District-led Actions Scheme of the Southern District
Recommendations by Julian TH Kwong, co-opted member of TTC, SDC
28 July 2016
BACKGROUND
In addressing traffic problems of Aberdeen, the following inter-related topics should be covered:
- Road safety
- Traffic congestion
- Public transport
- Parking, loading and unloading
- Walkability and Level of Service for pedestrians
- Streetscape and greening
The study should not only target at issues related to congestion, capacity and efficiency of the street network. It is important to include road safety, walkability and streetscape. The study should address road safety in adequate details with clear targets of casualty reduction.
The study should also aim to reduce unnecessary traffic in the urban centres. Such traffic would include public transport including buses and minibuses. Public transport users may be expected to walk a bit further but this is compensated by a quality and pleasant walking environment.
The study should lead to the formulation of a visionary improvement scheme for Aberdeen. Highlights of this scheme would include “30km/h speed limit zone”, use of raised speed tables and delivery of a quality walking environment in the area. It must be emphasized that 30km/h speed limit instead of 50km/h has been recognized as the key to road safety in urban centres in many parts of the world. Lower speed limit will not aggravate congestion since traffic capacity and travel time are constrained by junctions.
During the past 5 years, 316 persons were injured in the streets of Aberdeen. Of these 39 were seriously injured. Among these casualties, there were 189 pedestrians of which 30 were seriously injured. Overall, pedestrians accounted for 60% of all road traffic casualties and 77% of the serious casualties in Aberdeen. (source: TRADS data, Transport Department)
Pedestrians are facing a diversity of risks in Aberdeen. Aberdeen Main Road is the main road (district distributor) in the area with relatively heavy traffic and accounted for a quarter of the pedestrian casualties. Yue Kwong Road is a one-way local distributor road with elevated traffic speeds but residents have to cross the road to access some of the public transport service. On this road as much as 30% of the pedestrian casualties were serious or fatal. There were many pedestrian casualties on the various local streets in the main urban centre of Aberdeen where drivers should be travelling slow and give way to pedestrians. It is surprising that Old Main Street, Aberdeen had a share of 18 pedestrian casualties of which 4 are serious or fatal. This is a narrow street where traffic should only travel at very low speed.
PROPOSED ADDITIONAL CONTENTS FOR CONSULTANCY BRIEF
Consultant’s Task
The Consultant shall analyze road traffic accident data in Aberdeen over the past 5 years. The analysis has to cover the followings:
Compilation of statistics on accident types
Identification of clusters and patterns
Identification of risk factors
The Consultant shall identify and propose appropriate countermeasures which may include but not limited to road infrastructure improvements, traffic management, education and enforcement. Such measures should be viable and effective.
Traffic Calming and Streetscape Improvements
The Consultant shall develop an area-wide traffic calming scheme in conjunction with streetscape improvements. The scheme should cover the following topics:
- Implementation of area-wide 30km/h speed limit zone
- Provision of raised speed tables at junctions and other suitable locations
- Improving the quality and visibility of designated pedestrian crossings
- Footpath widening
- Decluttering of footpaths
- Reduction of visibility problems due to street furniture including railings and other features on the streets
- Reduction of visibility problems due to vehicle queues or parked vehicles
Additional Deliverables:
Road Safety Study Working Paper
Chapter on Road Safety in Draft and Final Project Report