The Impact of Street Humanisation on Road Safety

Abstract

To enhance the safety and integration of vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists) into the transportation system, a growing number of European cities, including Vilnius, are aligning their traffic management solutions with the concept of street humanisation. The Naujamiestis district is the first city district in Vilnius to undergo these changes. To assess the impact of street humanisation strategies on road safety, this preliminary paper analyses data from the road accident history database for the period 2018–2021 and results from instantaneous vehicle speed analysis. The results of the road accident database history are presented graphically and using heat maps. The data from the instantaneous speed analysis are analysed using the Kruskal- Wallis and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon non-parametric statistical criteria. The findings indicate that the concept of street humanisation is effective in enforcing 30 km/h speed limit. The analysis of road accident data history shows a decrease in the number of accidents and their consequences in the study area and the entire city of Vilnius between 2018 and 2022. However, it is currently challenging to determine whether street humanisation concept directly contributes to the decline in road accidents. Therefore, it is proposed to revisit the analysis in the future.

Keywords

• road accidents
• speed limit
• street humanisation
• traffic safety
• vehicle instantaneous speed
• vulnerable road users