Wars of the Road

27/10/2016

Related:

​2016/10/17
Conference:
Bristol "Pow Wow"

barrysays

Image: the border mail

On my recent UK trip it was necessary to visit a number of smaller cities around the country, including Bristol, Nottingham and Leicester. When travelling up to London I can rely on public transport to easily get me there, around and about, however connections between these regional cities are no longer convenient, and knowing the terrible likelihood of getting caught up in endless tailbacks on the motorways, I decided somewhat unusually to travel by car, but in leisurely fashion on minor roads whilst enjoying the English countryside on the way. I soon realised that there was in fact a war going on.

Historic Bristol waterfront. Image: picfair.com

When just 11 years old, I took a summer road trip with a friend. We packed up our bikes and set off for the Isle of Wight, a tourist destination on the south coast some 100 miles (160km) distant. Going cross-country we visited sites of interest along our way each day. My abiding memory is of riding through idyllic countryside with the breeze in my hair, taking for granted the slow pace of life, peaceful villages and clear air. ​

My shock and sadness today is that as a parent I couldn’t possibly think to allow my child of a similar age to undertake such a perilous journey.

Entrance to Datchet village. Image: DATCHET

As my recent driving trip revealed the country’s roads are a veritable battle ground between road vehicles, community residents, cyclists and pedestrians. Whereas on my childhood trip the roads were relatively empty, passing drivers were courteous and their speeds relatively low, today’s back roads are relentless corridors of speeding frustration and aggressive behaviour. Cyclists are buffeted, abused and threatened by passing cars and vans. Formerly idyllic villages shake under the constant rumble of SUV’s, buses and huge trucks.

Road rage. Image: Steve Midz YouTube

The 21st century automobile is bigger, safer and faster than ever. Comfortably sitting in one, up so high, with the music on and AC comforting, it becomes easy to disassociate yourself with the speed, noise and air rush outside at street level. So efficient are the engines and totally reliable are the brakes that speed restrictions seem to go against the very purpose of the vehicles. Each hamlet and village along a road is now a hot spot of potential accident, where it is often said that “the volume and speed of traffic is cutting our village in two”. People need to drive cautiously and at a moderate speed through villages, and take especial care in areas where pedestrians, horse-riders and cyclists are present, or are likely to be present, but do they?

Many rural villages feel swamped by speeding traffic. So, what is the solution? I witnessed a plethora of speed restrictions, warning signs, bumps, humps and other traffic calming measures in place to greet the motorist on arrival at each new village, frequently monitored by sensors and cameras.

Speed restrictions, warning signs, bumps, humps and other traffic calming measures in place to greet the motorist on arrival at each new village. Image: geograph.org.uk

20 mph speed limit for residential streets. Image: roadsafetygb.org.uk

Rarely can it be said that motorists were following the designated speed limits on any roads, and particularly not when required to significantly slow at village areas. I was infact frequently “hassled” by those behind me, frustrated when held back when forced to follow me at road limits. The vast majority of drivers are not maniacs and do want to behave responsibly but clearly, having speed limits on roads isn’t working, even in a developed society like Britain. Parliament estimates that "most drivers and pedestrians think speeds are generally too high but 95% of all drivers admit to exceeding speed limits"[1]

​In 1998 the Transport Research Laboratory reported that “signposted” 20 mph (32 km/h) speed limits on individual roads only reduced traffic speeds by about 1 mph and delivered no discernible reduction in accident numbers, but that 20 mph “zones” achieved average speed reductions of 10 mph with child pedestrian accident reductions of 70% and child cyclist accident reductions of 48%. 

Image: cyclinginfo.co.uk

“20's Plenty for Us” is a voluntary organisation that campaigns for the introduction of a default 20 mph (32 km/h) speed limit for residential streets and urban streets. By seeking to obtain implementation across a complete local authority or community then the organisation believes that worthwhile speed reductions can be achieved without the usual physical calming features. It terms this type of intervention as "Total 20". No physical calming is required.

A report published in 2008 estimated that following the introduction of 20 mph zones in London, a reduction of casualties by 45% and those killed or seriously injured (KSI) by 57% occurred.[2]

" We know more about good habitats for mountain gorillas, Siberian tigers, or panda bears than about a good urban habitat for Homo sapiens. Nobody has taken an interest . . . So, what happened was that the eye level stuff was handled by the traffic engineers. "
​
                                                                              - Jan Gehl

Image: cyclinginfo.co.uk

Governments are starting to wake up to the fact that towns and cities and even countries will be locked into ever more direct global competition for inward investment, tourism, economic activity and employment, with ever more up to date information about each and every city flying around the world.  If a city is packed with noisy, polluting traffic, is subject to legal action for its failure to address toxic air pollution, and has continued high incidences of road traffic congestion and accidents, then it will start to struggle both in terms of investment and labour supply.  ​

Driverless bus in Trikala, Greece. Image: Thanasssis Stavrakis

​We are at the dawn of a new and safer era of transport; the beginning of an automated motoring earthquake, in which we switch from all owning our own cars and use them for an average of one hour a day to simply renting a driverless pod to take us where we want to go. In the cities, I have predicted that it will radically change the streetscape; it will unclog our pavements and it will give the streets back to the public at large rather than just vehicles. But the implications of automated vehicles (AV’s) might take longer to reach rural locations and benefits be more difficult to integrate than in the cities.

Automated vehicles will undoubtedly abide by laws and speed limits, both in urban and rural applications. Could this see a change back to slower speeds on the roads? One of the first likely benefits in rural areas could be with public transport, where driverless buses could soon be unveiled in Britain. Operating buses without drivers on-demand with flexible routes should help governments and companies provide “better and more frequent” services, particularly in rural areas.

" Buses without drivers could help companies provide “better and more frequent” services, particularly in rural areas. A major component of rural transport is the cost of the driver – and so a truly driverless bus could transform rural public transport in the future, "[3].

                                                   —Claire Perry, British Transport Minister.

Inside a driverless bus. Image: Thanasssis Stavrakis

The first EasyMile EZ10 automated buses. Image: metropolia.fi

Trikala, a rural town in northern Greece, was chosen to test a driverless bus in real traffic conditions for the first time, part of a European project to revolutionize mass transport. The bus route was mixed with a variety of traffic, including pedestrians, bicycles, cars and trucks. The buses go no faster than 20 kph (121/2 mph).

The existing Ultra PODS are currently operating at Heathrow Terminal 5. Image: carnoc.com

On the 16th August of this year, the first EasyMile EZ10 automated buses entered the Finnish capital Helsinki. The development of automated vehicles in Finland has progressed faster than other countries due to the country’s law not requiring vehicles to have a driver on public roads.

Meanwhile iconic automated pods were utilised for public trials this summer on the streets of Greenwich, south London. The existing Ultra PODS currently operating at Heathrow Terminal 5 for nearly five years have carried more than 1.5 million passengers, and eliminated the need for 700,000 bus journeys and their associated emissions on local roads to the airport.

Will there not be need for speed limit signs in a future where all cars on the road are automated vehicles? Image: metrouk

If we take it as read that automated vehicles are the future and are going to be polite, safe and law abiding road citizens, then perhaps simple, automatically regulated speed limits, without the need for the ever-increasing gluttony of roadside instruction, calming and restriction, will see rural development return to safe, slow moving, charming communities.

Timeline for autonomous car adoption. Image: Morgan Stanley Research

If the global perception of a good place to live is where children scoot or cycle safely to school along quiet, treelined streets, and if a CEO considering inward investment can visualise his or her own children doing just so in that place, then it may have a critical competitive advantage." 

The great English mechanical and civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Image: kukly-bratc.ru

My visit to Bristol reminded me that it is the spiritual home of the great English mechanical and civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, considered one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history, a giant of the 19th century and "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, who changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions".[4]  Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionised public transport and modern engineering. Bristol and the surrounding west country was shaped significantly by his hand and vision.

Image: inspiredpeople.org

Safety in numbers. Image: cyclinginfo.co.uk

Bristol is also the home of “Sustrans”, the sustainable transport charity noted for working with families, communities, policy-makers and partner organisations who themselves help to engineer healthier, cleaner and cheaper journeys and create better places and spaces in which to live. Whilst possibly not yet as renowned as Brunel, the organisation has a key part to play in the coming transport revolution, just as Brunel did 170 years previously.

Formed in 1977 by a group of cyclists and environmentalists, motivated by emerging doubts about the desirability of over-dependence on the private car, following the 1973 oil crisis, and the almost total lack of specific provision for cyclists in most British cities, in contrast to some other European countries.[5] Sustrans' flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created over 14,000 miles[6] of signed cycle routes throughout the UK, whilst the organisation is working to introduce Safe Routes to Stations and Home Zones among other projects. We're the charity that’s enabling people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of the journeys we make every day. [7]

Image: cyclinginfo.co.uk

Sustrans has been important in promoting the benefits of alternative transport modes, helping Bristol become designated as England's first "cycling city" in 2008. It seems to me that one of the most sustainable transport modes of our future is the automated vehicle, which can meet the roles of an ultra-safe, sustainable and complementary transport system, used in tandem with cycling, railway and light bus services. It seems to me that rather than having to continue to fight for their own space on the country’s roadside battlefields, cyclists finally have an ally in the most unlikely of places; that of the future of road vehicles themselves of all things. Policy makers and organisations such as Sustrans should be rapidly considering how to best benefit from the huge implications of the coming automated vehicle revolution and how they will shape the future landscape. Should Bristol be leading the way in UK?

I also hope that my own children’s children will be able to take that touring trip by bike that I so enjoyed in my youth, but is beyond the safe reach of the current generation.

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Reference:
​
[1]"Select Committee on Transport, Local Government and theRegions Ninth Report - Introduction"
[2] London Road Safety Unit: Safety Research Report No. 2 - Review of20 mph Zones in London Boroughs
[3] Driverless Vehicles Conference -Thatcham – October  2014
[4] Rolt, Lionel Thomas Caswall (1957). Isambard Kingdom Brunel (firsted.). London: Longmans, Green & Co. p. 245.
[5]  The Official Guide to theNational Cycle Network. Sustrans, 2002 (2nd ed.). Italy: Canile & Turin.ISBN 1-901389-35-9.
[6] About the National Cycle Network. Sustrans.
[7] http://www.sustrans.org.uk/
[8]http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/2636/cycling/stats-uk/comment-page-2/#to-stats-uk-n-10