Safer Intersections Project a Traffic Calming Success

Safer Intersections Project a Traffic Calming Success
By Uyen Ngo

mage from Vision Zero SF entitled “A Turn Toward Safety” with images of a person on a bicycle, a person walking a dog, a person pushing stroller with a baby in it, and a person on a scooter

This week the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) released “A Turn Toward Safety: The Safer Intersections Project,” a report detailing the impact of the Left Turn Traffic Calming Project and the “Safety—It’s Your Turn” education campaign. The Safer Intersections Project now has tested traffic interventions that can reduce unsafe left turns. Overall, SFMTA found a 17% reduction in average speed (1.7mph slower) and a 71% reduction in the likelihood of a car turning left at higher speeds over 15mph at seven high-crash test intersections.

In 2019, 40% of traffic deaths in San Francisco were caused when drivers made left turns and didn’t see the person in the crosswalk, until it was too late. To combat this trend, also seen in other cities, and encourage safer left turns and adoption of safer left turn behaviors, San Francisco’s multilayered project combined engineering treatments in seven high-crash intersections with an education campaign, which led to promising results.

The Left Turn Traffic Calming Project consisted of installing waist-high vertical delineator posts, small rubber speed bumps, and paint to create enhanced center lane lines and painted safety zones to encourage slower, wider left turns and increase drivers’ awareness of other road users. To measure the impact, SFMTA collected left-turning driver speeds before and after installation and then compared driver speeds at the seven project intersections with four other control intersections. The result of this project showed that these treatments are proven to slow driver speeds and encourage safer left turns for both people in the crosswalks and opposing traffic.

photo of plastic safety posts separating a bike lane from a general traffic lane

The second part of the Safer Intersections Project was designing and implementing an education and community outreach campaign– “Safety—It’s Your Turn” –funded by a $2 million grant through the California Transportation Commission Active Transportation Program. The campaign presented three safer left turn behaviors (Take it slow—5mph is safest; Make it square—90-degree angles are best; and Stay aware—look out for cars, cyclists, and people) and data suggests the “Safety—It’s Your Turn” campaign extended the speed reductions from the Left Turns Traffic Calming project. Year-to-year survey results also show that public perception of the dangers of speeding is trending in the right direction, indicating a sustained change in attitudes influenced by education campaigns and engineering.

A unique aspect of this project was the use of behavioral science. SFMTA partnered with the Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), a leading behavioral science organization, to analyze how drivers make left turns in order to develop interventions that would prompt safer behaviors. By changing the architecture of intersections, we were able to move people toward making safer left turns in the moment. The combination of these physical changes and SFMTA’s educational campaign encouraged safe driving behaviors and increased awareness of how individual actions have an impact on the community.

montage of three posters and a sign on a bus that state 40% of traffic deaths involve drivers making left turns

The education campaign also included working with community-based organizations (CBOs) to broaden and deepen the traffic safety messaging. Through a community grant process, six CBOs were compensated for their time and knowledge, creating additional materials and events supporting the campaign. Many of our grantees were new to Vision Zero and helped us reach additional residents through creative ways such as food delivery, artistic public service announcements, virtual bike rides, and youth poster contests. Finally, we worked with an additional eight CBOs to share educational materials and present the Safety—It’s Your Turn campaign to their members.

In addition to the treatments’ impact on slower speeds, there were two key takeaways from the project:

Well-funded and evidenced-based education campaigns are an important and effective tool in in raising public awareness, encouraging safer driving behaviors, influencing policy discussions, and building community support.
For maximum effectiveness, calming treatments should become a standard engineering tool and applied at locations with existing high left-turn speeds, conducive street geometry, and lots of people walking and biking.

Published November 19, 2021 at 09:58PM
https://ift.tt/3FyixLU

Comments

New top story from Time: Millions of Tenants Behind on Rent, Small Landlords Struggling, Eviction Moratoriums Expiring Soon: Inside the Next Housing Crisis

https://ift.tt/2NAbOvm In late November, Rian de Laat reached the end of her rope. Over the past year, her mom had received a cancer diagnosis, her dad had undergone major surgery, and de Laat, 44, had been laid off from her job at a biotech startup. But her chief concern was the fact that she was now responsible for the mortgage not only on her own home–a quaint one-story bungalow just south of Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood–but also on an investment property, an unassuming two-bedroom condo eight miles north in Shoreline. Her tenant, Ollie Aldama, had lost his job at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March, began struggling to make his utility payments and ultimately stopped paying his monthly rent of $1,800. By Thanksgiving, he owed de Laat more than $20,000. State and national eviction moratoriums prevented de Laat from kicking Aldama out amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet her own financial situation wasn’t flush enough to float him indefinitely. After mont...

DU's academic, executive council members ask VC to scrap online open book exams https://ift.tt/2YubRfc

The academic and executive council members of the Delhi University on Thursday wrote to the vice-chancellor asking him to scrap the online open-book exams. Their letter to DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi comes in the wake of Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' asking the University Grants Commission (UGC) to revisit the guidelines issued earlier for intermediate and terminal semester examination, and the academic calendar. from IndiaTV: Google News Feed https://ift.tt/2YByOxg

New top story from Time: China Calls U.S. Policy ‘Misguided’ in High-Level Talks

https://ift.tt/3iPgwS0 TIANJIN, China — China came out swinging at high-level face-to-face talks with the United States on Monday, blaming the U.S. for a “stalemate” in bilateral relations and calling on America to change “its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy.” Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng accused the administration of President Joe Biden of trying to contain and suppress China’s development, according to an official summary of his remarks in talks with visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The fundamental reason why relations between the two face serious difficulties is because some Americans portray China as an “imagined enemy,” the Foreign Ministry quoted Xie as saying. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Sherman, America’s No. 2 diplomat, is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since Biden took office six months ago. She was having separate meetings with Xie, who is in charge of U.S.-China relations, and Foreign Minister Wang Y...

New top story from Time: DOJ Reportedly Investigating Whether New York Gov. Cuomo Manipulated Data on COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

https://ift.tt/3u8AJab (ALBANY, N.Y.) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced mounting challenges to his leadership on the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday as state lawmakers threatened to strip him of the power to issue emergency orders and federal investigators scrutinized his administration’s handling of nursing home data. The U.S. Justice Department has been examining the governor’s coronavirus task force and trying to determine whether the state intentionally manipulated data regarding deaths in nursing homes, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Cuomo administration had not been cooperative with prosecutors, especially in the early stages of the probe, and for months had not produced documents and other data the Justice Department had requested. The inquiry began months ago in the Justice Department’s civil division, and parts of it have ...

New top story from Time: To Vaccinate U.S. Veterans, Health Care Workers Must Cross Mountains, Plains and Tundra

https://ift.tt/3uavmaw A Learjet 31 took off before daybreak from Helena Regional Airport in Montana in late January, carrying six Veterans Affairs medical providers and 250 doses of historic cargo cradled in a plug-in cooler designed to minimize breakage. Even in a state where 80-mph speed limits are normal, ground transportation across long distances is risky for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine, which must be used within 12 hours of thawing. The group’s destination was Havre, Mont., 30 miles from the Canadian border. About 500 military veterans live in and around this small town of roughly 9,800, and millions more reside in similarly rural, hard-to-reach areas across the United States. About 2.7 million veterans who use the VA health system are classified as “rural” or “highly rural” patients, residing in communities or on land with fewer services and less access to health care than those in densely populated towns and cities. An additional 2 million veterans live in remote ...

Coronavirus Vaccine in China Shows Promising Results on People, Immune Cells Developed in 2 Weeks “This is promising data, but it’s early data,” said Dr. Daniel Barouch, director of vaccine research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who was not involved in the work. “Overall, I would say this is good news.” “This is promising data, but it’s early data,” said Dr. Daniel Barouch, director of vaccine research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who was not involved in the work. “Overall, I would say this is good news.”

“This is promising data, but it’s early data,” said Dr. Daniel Barouch, director of vaccine research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who was not involved in the work. “Overall, I would say this is good news.” from Top World News- News18.com https://ift.tt/2LRebpt https://ift.tt/3aYjmyk “This is promising data, but it’s early data,” said Dr. Daniel Barouch, director of vaccine research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, who was not involved in the work. “Overall, I would say this is good news.”

New top story from Time: TIME Announces Changes to Editorial Leadership Structure To Further Subscriptions and Digital Transformation

https://ift.tt/3yzPgOo Time Editor-in-Chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal and Deputy Editor Sam Jacobs sent the following note to staff Monday. Dear all, It’s remarkable what we’ve been able to accomplish together while navigating the many global crises of this past year. In the face of tremendous challenges, professional and personal, your support for each other and the collective focus on the humanity of the stories we tell has helped move TIME forward. Our journalism has never been more relevant, from our coverage of the historic events of 2020 to the recent “Climate Is Everything” project, the launch of TIME Business and May’s powerful Equity project led by TIME’s BIPOC journalists. TIME100 Talks and our virtual summits have showcased memorable conversations and artists. In little more than a year, TIME Studios, in partnership with so many of you, has transformed from an idea to an industry force. The incredible work of this team as we pivot through the pandemic is te...

New top story from Time: At Least 3 Dead in Amtrak Train Derailment in Montana

https://ift.tt/3lZcxUu JOPLIN, Mont. — At least three people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Amtrak train that runs between Seattle and Chicago derailed in north-central Montana, toppling several cars onto their sides, authorities said. The westbound Empire Builder train derailed about 4 p.m. near Joplin, a town of about 200, Amtrak spokesman Jason Abrams said in a statement. The accident scene is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northeast of Helena and about 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the border with Canada. Liberty County sheriff’s dispatcher Starr Tyler told The Associated Press that three people died in the derailment. She did not have more details. Amtrak confirmed the deaths and said there were multiple injuries. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “We are deeply saddened to learn local authorities are now confirming that three people have lost their lives as a result of this accident,” Abrams said. The train had about 141 passengers and 16 crew members onbo...

New top story from Time: The Green Knight Is an Extravagant Unicorn Tapestry of a Movie

https://ift.tt/2UHqxst In a guttural growl, as if possessed by a demon, a medieval queen reads aloud a threatening letter that has just been delivered by a gargantuan bark-covered warrior on an equally imposing steed. She faints as she reaches the letter’s final line; the paper drops to the floor and bursts into flames. Cinema! There’s nothing more ridiculous, or more awesome. There is no lettre flambée, specifically, in the late 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. But it’s part of the embroidery writer-director David Lowery uses to fill out his extravagant unicorn tapestry of a movie, The Green Knight, a detail that makes this ambitious adaptation feel both lived-in and magickal, with all the self-aware grandiosity that superfluous ancient k implies. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Dev Patel stars as the aimless yet mildly arrogant young knight-to-be Gawain, who, as the movie opens, still lives with his mother (Sarita Choudhury) and isn’t quite sure h...

New top story from Time: With Daily Infections Hitting a Record-High, Critics Say the U.K. Hasn’t Learned From Its Mistakes

https://ift.tt/3cv6m5i LONDON — Britain bungled its response to the coronavirus the first time around. Now many scientists fear it’s about to do it again. The virus is on the rise once more in the U.K., which has recorded almost 42,000 COVID-19 deaths, with confirmed daily infections hitting a record-high 6,634 on Thursday, though deaths remain far below their April peak. The surge has brought new restrictions on daily life, the prospect of a grim winter of mounting deaths — and a feeling of deja vu. “We didn’t react quick enough in March,” epidemiologist John Edmunds, a member of the government’s scientific advisory committee, told the BBC. “I think we haven’t learnt from our mistake back then and we’re, unfortunately, about to repeat it.” The U.K. is not alone in seeing a second wave of COVID-19. European countries including France, Spain and the Netherlands are struggling to suppress rising outbreaks while limiting the economic damage . But Britain’s pandemic respo...

My precise view

Search This Blog