Pedestrian safety in roadway design and land-use olannin <br />Attachment C <br />Attachment B <br />at many points, and pedestrian facilities are lacking on many roads and/or ignored <br />by vehicle drivers. In high-income countries, separation of slow and fast anodes of <br />transport and implementation of traffic-calming measures have become common <br />practices in roadway design since the 1970s and 1980s. Some low- and middle-income <br />countries face a serious problem where settlements flourish along national roads. <br />Many of these settlements and roads lack sidewalks and other measures for pedestrian <br />safety (see Box z.z.). Improving pedestrian safety in mixed traffic environments may <br />utilize several measures such as sidewalks, raised crossings, reducing legal speed limits <br />and road narrowing. These measures are discussed in Module 4. <br />30 <br />BOX 2.2: Planning for safety of settlements along national roads <br />Road infrastructure is important for the economic <br />development of low- and middle-income countries. <br />Movement of goods and people within and between <br />these countries requires a road network. These <br />countries are building and improving roads to facili- <br />tate this movement, but inter-urban roads often pass <br />through villages, towns and cities without adequate <br />traffic-calming measures and sufficient separation of <br />residential roads from fast-speed, inter-urban road <br />networks. Inadequate foresight and safety planning <br />in road network development creates risks for settle- <br />ments along national roads. <br />The mixing of human settlements and roads of vari- <br />ous speeds increases the road traffic injury risk in <br />villages and towns. In some cases, existing roads <br />that pass through settlements are widened, often <br />taking up the space meant for sidewalks. In other <br />cases, human settlements and commercial activities <br />commonly develop along inter-urban roads. The plan- <br />ning of these settlements does not often take into <br />consideration the safety of pedestrians and other <br />road users. Beginning with small markets along the <br />road for agricultural products, these settlements <br />grow into cottages and shops, and finally large <br />buildings along both sides of the road. Commerce, <br />residences and the road network combine in a way <br />that increases risk as outlined below: <br />• Intersections between local and national roads <br />that create hazardous spots in a village. All types <br />of road users, travelling at widely varying speeds, <br />converge on a single intersection, causing con- <br />flicts and hazards. <br />• Shops and other businesses generate traffic that <br />further complicates the traffic flow. <br />• Mini-buses worsen the situation by stopping wher- <br />ever passengers and drivers desire, without due <br />regard to safe pedestrian crossing. <br />It is necessary to address road traffic injury risk at <br />locations where residential areas and businesses <br />develop along inter-urban roads. Master plans for <br />appropriate land use and urban development need <br />to be coordinated among different governmental and <br />private agencies. Specific measures to improve road <br />safety - in particular, pedestrian safety - in these <br />situations include: <br />• Separating traffic: Placing local distributor or agri- <br />cultural roads alongside or parallel to high-speed <br />roads effectively separates cyclists and pedestri- <br />ans from dangerous traffic. <br />• Reducing speed: Reducing the number of lanes <br />to slow down vehicles when entering a settled <br />Page 175 <br />