Safe access to all properties
Safe Access Neighbourhoods are blocks of streets that have been calmed to have low traffic speeds and traffic volumes, using modal filters and 30 km/h speed limits, so that every property can be safely accessed by people of all ages and abilities, irrespective of whether they choose to walk, roll, bike, use public transport, or drive
Benefits
Safe Access Neighbourhoods offer:
- a quieter and more enjoyable environment for walking and chatting with neighbours
- a safer environment for children to start or finish their journeys, e.g. walking or biking to school, sport or friends
- reduced rat running
- no need to construct a protected bike lane on each street; instead the traffic speeds and volumes and low enough so people biking can share a lane with people driving
Modal filters
Modal filters act to eliminate through-traffic (or rat running) and thus open up neighbourhood streets as a safe environment for people walking and biking. Yarra does have a number of modal filters, but more are needed.
30 km/h speed limits
30 km/h speed limits act to slow down motor vehicle traffic, thus reducing noise, making it easier to cross streets, and making it safe enough for people biking to share a lane with people driving.
What Council can do
To bring Safe Access Neighbourhoods to more people, Council should:
- Revise the Road Safety Study Policy so that modal filters are ‘in scope’
- Make the 30 km/h trial area (which covers Fitzroy and Collingwood) permanent, in accordance with Victoria’s new Speed Zoning Policy, and then expand it to cover other neighbourhoods
If Yarra does expand 30 km/h zones to cover the municipality, we’ll realise most of the same benefits that Wales has seen, after they made 30 km/h their default speed limit. Here’s the story of how they achieved it:
Guidance from the USA
Design guidance is available from the Designing for Safe Speeds guide from the Global Designing Cities Initiative. The guide highlights the use of safe speed limits in combination with comprehensive network and street design to deliver safer, healthier, and more liveable cities.
Conclusion
Safe Access Neighbourhoods, featuring modal filters and 30 km/h speed limits, are a practical and low cost way to make Yarra a more beautiful, liveable and accessible city, where people of all ages and abilities can safely access any property, irrespective of whether they choose to walk, roll, bike, use public transport, or drive.