XN000022-1982-12-19 — Page 2

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1982

PREVENTING PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS

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ALL LOCATIONS WITH SIX PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS OR MORE IN A YEAR WILL BE GIVEN PRIORITY FOR INVESTIGATION BY THE TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT'S ROAD SAFETY DIVISION.

THIS WAS STATED IN THE 1982 ANNUAL REVIEW ON PEDESTRIAN PROBLEM SPOTS COMPLETED RECENTLY.

THE CRITERION FOR SIX CASUALTIES A YEAR - SET DOWN IN EARLY 1981 - WAS INITIALLY CHOSEN TO MATCH THE STAFF RESOURCES AVAILABLE FOR SITE INVESTIGATIONS.

THE REVIEW, THE 12TH IN A CONTINUING SERIES, COVERED THE PERIOD UP TO JULY 1982. IT SAID THAT PROBLEM AREAS IN THE NEW TERRITORIES WOULD ALSO BE LOOKED INTO.

THE REVIEW REPORTED THAT THE ROAD SAFETY DIVISION WAS ABLE TO MONITOR THE NUMBER AND LOCATIONS OF PEDESTRIAN BLACK SPOTS BY UTILISING INFORMATION FROM A TRAFFIC ACCIDENT DATA BANK.

IT RECOMMENDED REMEDIAL MEASURES RANGING FROM PROVIDING SIGNAL- CONTROLLED CROSSINGS AND RESITING DIRECTIONAL SIGNS TO PROVIDING SKID RESISTANT MATERIAL ON THE APPROACHES TO PEDESTRIAN CROSSINGS AND IMPROVEMENTS TO EXISTING ROAD LIGHTING.

BUT THE REVIEW ALSO POINTED OUT THAT IT WAS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE THAT SITES WITH LARGE VEHICLE PEDESTRIAN CONFLICTS AND A HIGH INCIDENCE OF ACCIDENTS WERE BEST TACKLED BY THE PROVISION OF ADDITIONAL PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES.

+SOME OF THE WORST ACCIDENT SITES ARE AT JUNCTIONS WITH AN ADJACENT TRAM PLATFORM OR PEDESTRIAN REFUGE NEXT TO THE TRAM TRACKS.

+ INVESTIGATIONS REVEALED THAT AT MANY OF THESE SITES, THE ACCIDENTS OCCURRED ON SIGNAL-CONTROLLED PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES WHICH HAD BEEN INSTALLED TO ASSIST PEDESTRIANS IN CROSSING THE ROAD SAFELY.

+FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS INDICATED THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE ACCIDENTS OCCURRED ON THE TRAM TRACKS, AND WERE A RESULT OF MOTOR VEHICLES TRAVELLING ALONG THE OFFSIDE OF TRAM ISLANDS OR PEDESTRIAN REFUGES FROM A DIRECTION PEDESTRIANS WERE NOT EXPECTING.+

THE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM, THE REVIEW STRESSED, WAS TO BAN MOTOR VEHICLES FROM THE TRAM TRACKS AND NOT THE PROVISION OF MORE PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES.

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