Designing Highways for Motorcyclists - AIRSO · 2018-03-06 · • Outline how motorcyclists’ use...
Transcript of Designing Highways for Motorcyclists - AIRSO · 2018-03-06 · • Outline how motorcyclists’ use...
Designing Highways for Motorcyclists
London’s Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook
Andy Mayo
“How can traffic engineers, highway design and
maintenance professionals contribute to
motorcycle safety in the urban environment?”
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-urban-motorcycle-design-handbook.pdf
• ACEM Guidelines for PTW Safer Roads Design in Europe http://www.acem.eu/images/stories/doc/publications/d_ACEMinfrastructurehandbookv2_74670.pdf
• FEMA Riderscan European Scanning Tour for Motorcycle
Safety http://www.fema-online.eu/riderscan/
• Safer Urban Motorcycling (eSUM) Good Practice Guide http://www.esum.org/index.html)
What guidance is available?
What guidance is available?
• IHE Guidelines for Motorcycling (www.motorcycleguidelines.org.uk)
Why a London Handbook?
• TfL’s Safe Streets for London and Motorcycle Safety Action Plan (2014)
• TfL Motorcycle Safety Working Group
• Met Police, MAG, BMF, MCIA, TfL officers
• No London-specific guidance on designing for motorcycles
Set in the context of the motorcycle collision situation
Source: London Assembly Transport Committee “Improving motorcycle safety on London Roads” March 2016
6 Transport for London, Casualties in Greater London during 2014
Motorcycle Collisions in London
7 Transport for London, Casualties in Greater London during 2014
Motorcycle Collisions in London
Why a Handbook?
2% mode share
10% of fatalities
21% of serious injuries
17% of all casualties
• Cycling mode share and casualty rates (2014 data)
Mode share and collision involvement
• Motorcycle mode share and casualty rates (2014 data)
1% mode share
21% of fatalities
24% of serious injuries
17% of all casualties
Why a Handbook?
• Limited previous consideration (e.g. Streetscape Design)
• To explain the main characteristics of motorcycles (and
motorcyclists) to those who are not aware.
Source: Motorcycle Roadcraft – The Police Rider’s Handbook
Why a Handbook?
• Outline how motorcyclists’ use of the road differs from
other groups
• Look at their unique requirements & vulnerabilities
• To explain how motorcyclists’ requirements can be better
accommodated in highway design and maintenance work.
TO MAKE SURE THAT TRANSPORT PROFESSIONALS AT
LEAST CONSIDER MOTORCYCLISTS AS PART OF THEIR
WORK.
Important to remember:
• The motorcycle road safety problem will not
be ‘solved’ just by better traffic engineering
• Other considerations include:
• Road user behaviour (all)
• Use of PPE
• Bike/rider visibility
• Education, enforcement
• Rider training
• Motorcycle development, ABS/electronics.
Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook
Unique characteristics of motorcyclists
Key factors influencing motorcyclists:
• Only two small contact points
• Most braking and steering through front tyre
• Riders try to avoid skidding at all costs
• Much easier to lose control than a car
• Follow different path in bends
Unique characteristics of motorcyclists
Key factors influencing motorcyclists:
• Very manoeuvrable, overtaking and filtering
• Appear where they are not expected
• Rapid acceleration
• Many similarities with cyclists
• All shapes and sizes.
Unique characteristics of motorcyclists
What is different about London?
• Journey purpose
• Distance
• Couriers / delivery (use of smaller machines)
• Congested (often narrow) streets.
What is different about London?
• Competition for space
• Level of filtering
• Driver reactions.
What is different about London?
How are London motorcyclists being injured?
How are London motorcyclists being injured?
How are London motorcyclists being injured?
• Gender: 9/10 male (but changing)
• Young bias
• Overtaking and filtering
• Speed.
Key challenges faced by motorcyclists
The 5 Key Challenges:
• Factors affecting grip
• Visibility
• Road-side features
• Traffic calming
• Filtering
Mainly safety
Mainly convenience
What’s not covered?
• Motorcycle parking
• Illegal user behaviour
• Armco barriers
• Rural issues
• Rider training
• Bus lanes
• Semi-segregated cycle lanes.
The Design Handbook
The 5 Key Challenges:
1) Factors affecting grip
2) Issues around visibility
3) Road-side features
4) Traffic calming
5) Filtering
Design Issues
1) Factors affecting grip
• Loss of control features prominently in collisions
involving motorcycles in London
• There are numerous road surface design issues that
can influence grip, both positively and negatively.
1) Factors affecting grip
1) Factors affecting grip
Storey’s Gate (Westminster)
1) Factors affecting grip
1) Factors affecting grip
1) Grip - Key Design Considerations
• Locate changes to surface types away from motorcycle
steering, braking & accelerating zones.
• Avoid using multi-layers of marking material to form ‘over-
run’ areas.
• Minimise the number of surface types used
• Can asphalt with higher skidding resistance be used
instead of HFS?
• Maintain it appropriately, only install on a structurally sound
surface
• Can service covers be moved/located away from areas
where motorcyclists may be expected to be travelling,
particularly in the vicinity of bends & junctions?
• Use covers which have a similar skid resistance to the
surrounding road environment.
2) Visibility
• “Failed to see” or “other vehicle turns into path of motorcycle” are
a key causation factors in many collisions involving motorcyclists.
2) Visibility – key design considerations
Sideways visibility:
• Ensure that appropriate visibility
splays are provided and that they
are unobstructed by street furniture:
- CCTV installations
- Traffic signal equipment
- Traffic signs
- Bus shelters
- Bins
- Seating areas
- Car parking
- Vegetation.
Forward visibility:
• Ensure that the minimum forward
visibility is equal to the minimum
Stopping Sight Distance (SSD)
• Take into account different road
positions that motorcyclists
occupy
• Consider future maintenance
regimes, especially for vegetation
in the Spring and Summer
months.
3) Road-side features
• Features that can form a
collision hazard to motorcyclists
within the carriageway
• Features that can form a
collision hazard for a rider if
they lose control and leave the
carriageway
• Little more than a minor
inconvenience to car drivers,
these features can be a source
of major injury or death to a
motorcyclist.
3) Roadside features
3) Roadside features
3) Road-side features – key design considerations
• Are the features within the carriageway
actually required?
• If required ensure that they are clearly
visible for all road users – reflective,
vertical bollards, illumination
requirements, continue road markings
around them?
• If required, can the road side
environment be softened?
- Remove / minimise guard railing
- De-cluttering (streetscape benefits)
- Mounting signs on existing columns
- Frangible post options
- Flexible bollards.
Light segregation cycle facilities
Light segregation cycle facilities
Tavistock Place
CS2
Greenwich
Light segregation cycle facilities
Light segregation key design considerations
• Higher separators (“wands”) preferred
- flexible posts
• If low separators are used then you
must have a taller more visible object
at the start of the run
• Good visibility (including at night –
reflectiveness requirements)
• Ensure general traffic lanes are of an
appropriate width
• Suitable gaps in between objects at
junctions required to meet turning
requirements
• Remember that over-runnable light
segregation can become detached
from road surface
• More research is needed.
4) Traffic calming
• Although traffic calming can help reduce road safety risk for all
road users, poorly designed traffic calming can be a source of
danger to the motorcyclist. Better design of new traffic calming
and revision of existing features can help address these issues.
4) Traffic calming
4) Traffic calming – key design considerations
• Consider spacings between cushions and
between outer most cushion and the
kerbs (ideally at least 1.5m gap)
• Consider whether ‘2 cushion’ or ‘3
cushion’ layouts are most suitable.
• Do sinusoidal road humps represent a
viable alternative?
• Locate vertical traffic calming away from
turning / braking areas, including bends
• Are side-road entry treatments required,
or can other methods, such as tight corner
radii be used to reduce vehicle speeds?
• Can a surface material which has a similar
skid resistance to the surrounding road
environment be used?
• Regular inspection, maintenance and
repair regime needed if granite setts /
block paving are used.
5) Filtering
• Motorcyclists can experience various barriers to safe filtering,
some of which are infrastructural such as wide refuge islands or
constrained traffic lane widths, and some behavioural in nature.
Good design can facilitate safer filtering or at least not make
conditions worse for motorcyclists.
5) Filtering – key design considerations
• Need to observe road user
behaviour
• Is there likely to be a legitimate
demand for offside filtering?
• Would it be appropriate to provide
wider traffic lanes which allow
motorcyclists to filter ‘in lane’ to the
offside
• Consider whether there is potential
to improve network resilience to
reduce queuing and the need for
motorcyclists (and cyclists) to filter
• Are there options to better (and
safely) accommodate the more
readily expected offside filtering?
TfL Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook
email: [email protected]
Andy Mayo (Director) Local Transport Projects Ltd.
tel. 01482 679911
Any questions?