Sustainable transport
Safety, security and accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists in small towns and villages.
Today, about 15% of Sweden's population lives in small towns, i.e. towns with fewer than 200 inhabitants (SCB, 2007). Residents of small towns have largely the same need for safe and secure transportation in their immediate environment as residents of urban areas, i.e. they want to be able to visit their surroundings on foot and by bicycle, travel to the bus stop or walk and cycle for exercise. Of all the journeys we make in Sweden, about half are shorter than 5 km and a significant proportion of these are made by car. If these shorter journeys were made more often on foot or by bicycle, it would be a step towards a sustainable transport system and lead to environmental benefits.
Today's traffic planning in Sweden meets the needs of unprotected road users in urban areas to some extent, but there are no theories and models for how traffic planning for rural traffic should meet the needs of pedestrians and cyclists to travel safely and securely with good accessibility. In rural traffic, there is often a contradiction between the demands of vehicle traffic for high accessibility and speed, and the demands of pedestrians and cyclists for safety, security and accessibility as well as cost-effective solutions.
The aim of the project is to develop traffic planning for pedestrians and cyclists so that they have the same transport quality in terms of safety, security and accessibility in rural areas as people traveling by car, ie the sustainable transport system. The project starts with a systematic review of previous research results and continues with field studies of road user behavior. The project is carried out with the participation of residents and road users in a number of studied localities.
The project provides a knowledge base for consistent traffic planning based on the needs of pedestrians and cyclists as a basis for the development of the sustainable transport system in rural traffic. The needs of schoolchildren, elderly and disabled people are particularly taken into account. The aim of the project is a traffic planning strategy for rural traffic that meets pedestrians' and cyclists' demands for safety, accessibility and accessibility.
The project was funded within the Swedish Transport Administration's SNE-RPD Center of Excellence - Road, Planning and Design during the period 2009-2012.
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