Tuesday 19th February 2019
Hosted by Swinburne University of Technology
Article by Jonathan Pravin (Traffic and Transport, Yarra Ranges Council)
The February seminar demonstrated the importance of safer intersections for pedestrians, cyclists, and rural traffic. Additionally, the precautions and actions that we are taking as part of Towards Zero were discussed. Three topics were addressed by four experts. Follow the links to find out more about their organisations and projects. Read on for a summary of their presentations.
- Protected Bicycle Intersections: Adrian Lim and Paul Mihailidis, TrafficWorks
- Regional Intersections: Sarah Morris, Regional Roads Victoria
- Pedestrian Safety at Intersections: Duane Burtt, Victoria Walks.
Protected Bicycle Intersection
Adrian Lim from Regional Roads Victoria and Paul Mihailidis from Trafficworks, co-presented on the project ‘Safer Cyclists – Protected Intersections in Melbourne’. They spoke about the Strategic Cycling Corridor between Preston to Melbourne CBD including the works proposed with one of them including the protected intersection. The key aspects of this intersection include key separator islands, bicycle hook turns, enhanced delineation and narrower traffic lanes. These innovative treatments are aimed to make the intersection safer to cyclist by positioning them in a less vulnerable position to be strike by other vehicles. You can download a copy of their slides here.
Side Traffic Activated Rural Speeds (STARS) & Treatment of High Risk Rural Intersection
Sarah Morris from Regional Roads Victoria spoke about treatments of high risk rural intersections. This includes the STARS approach, which has been implemented at up to 30 locations across the state. Before this approach was implemented, our State’s Safe System Approach to high risk intersections were roundabouts. This approach is infeasible from a budget perspective – with the average cost for the construction of a roundabout is $3million. The STARS approach mainly focuses on vehicles approaching the intersection to trigger an electronic speed limit sign on the main road, reducing the speed limit by 30km/h, in many cases, from the default rural speed limit of 100km/h to 70km/h. With the vast amount of high-risk rural intersections scattered across Victoria, this treatment represents progress Towards Zero. You can download Sarah’s slides here.
Pedestrian Safety at Intersections – Victoria Walks
Duanne Burtt presented on behalf of Victoria Walks, on pedestrian crash trends and intersection design approaches for walkers. Over the last five years, an average of 37 pedestrians were killed each year on Victorian roads. Duanne’s presentation included the safe designs involved for the walking community which consists of:
- lowering vehicular speeds at intersections,
- reducing complexity: turn bans, reducing crossing distances, and conspicuous pedestrian crossings
- pedestrian refuges, and
- increasing crossing time.
You can download a copy of Duanne’s slides here.
