Report on Pedestrian and Cyclist Road Safety Framework Work Programme 2004-2006

Introduction

The following work programme identifies and describes the pedestrian and cyclist safety initiatives undertaken by Land Transport NZ (formally Land Transport Safety Authority and Transfund New Zealand) and the MoT under the Framework to the end of the 2005/2006 financial year.

Key initiatives and areas of work included:

• Safer Routes - development of a comprehensive approach to improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists in high risk communities.
• Research - projects undertaken to inform the development of pedestrian and cyclist safety and promotion initiatives.
• Standards and Guidelines - a programme to develop a series of best practice guidelines and tools to support RCAs in improving pedestrian and cyclist safety and providing supportive local environments for walking and cycling.
• Share the Road - development of a Share the Road Tool Kit for local authorities on running Share the Road initiatives.
• Pedestrian and cyclist integration into broader RS 2010 strategy road safety initiatives.  

In addition to the above work, an important focus of the Framework's work programme over this time has been to integrate further safety planning for pedestrians and cyclists into the broader strategic and action planning for the Getting There strategy.

During the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 financial year Land Transport NZ also provided funding toward implementation of the Bike Wise and Walking Initiatives Programme co-ordinated by the HSC, and advice given by the Cycle and Walking Steering Committees².  This programme provides opportunities to incorporate safety into initiatives that also seek to promote the use of walking and cycling.

Key initiatives and work areas

This section describes each initiative in more depth, identifying actions undertaken to date, and potential next steps.

Safer Routes

The aim of the Safer Routes programme is to develop, trial and approach to improve safety in communities where pedestrians and cyclists are shown to be at high risk of injury. It is targeted at all ages of pedestrians and cyclists.

Each Safer Routes project involves an information gathering phase involving extensive community based data collection (including engineering assessments, traffic/pedestrian/cycle counts and perception surveys). This ensures appropriate intervention selection for an integrated implementation programme including engineering, enforcement, education and promotional interventions. Full evaluation of individual projects allows appropriate comparison with data collected in the data collection phase. Lessons learned from Safer Routes projects will be incorporated into the development of future safety interventions.

In 2003/2004 (financial year) four trial projects were initiated under the Safer Routes programme.  These were followed by two further projects each year in 2004/2005 and 2005/2006.  Three projects have now been completed and will be evaluated in 2006/07, three projects are in the implementation stage and two projects are in the information collection stage.  The overall programme will be evaluated in early 2007.  A next stage will see completion of guidelines being developed for use by TLAs.

Consultation on incorporation of Safer Routes into a broader Neighbourhood Accessibility Planning approach is occurring during 2006/07.

Research

The New Zealand Transport Strategy states that the government is committed to following an evidence-based approach to transport. Evidence requires high quality research. A strong focus in this work programme has been placed on undertaking the research required to better understand safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists and to develop specific best practice national and local initiatives.

An important focus in the short term has been to support the Safer Routes programme by providing data and best practice information for the trials and initial projects. The research will also help to inform planning and implementation of the Getting There Strategy.

The following outlines the pedestrian and cyclist safety research work programme for 2004-2006.

Case study of York (2004)

This report assesses the extent to which the City of York in the United Kingdom has increased the numbers of people walking and cycling while reducing the rate of pedestrian and cyclist death and injury.  It also outlines the approach and the methods York has employed to achieve results.³ 

Safety and school travel plans (2004)

This report examines the role that road safety issues play in the development of school travel plans, and develops a framework for how school travel plans can be developed or targeted to address safety issues. It is based on case studies of school travel work undertaken in mainland Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, identified in the international and New Zealand literature⁴.

Why don't people walk or cycle? (2004)

This report looks at the reasons why people don't walk and cycle in New Zealand including the role of safety within these ⁵. It is based on a review of New Zealand and international research and analysis of data gathered by Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC).  The report found that a number of factors can impact on whether people choose to walk or cycle, such as the perceived benefits of car use, not having cycle equipment, having to carry things, effort, time, safety, distance, health/physical factors and weather.

Road safety education and promotion best practice ⁶

This review reports on the published information available on education and promotional best practice⁷ initiatives that aim to improve road safety for the following pedestrian and cyclist risk groups:  

• Child pedestrians
• Child cyclists
• Adult commuter cyclists
• Elderly pedestrians
• Drunk pedestrians  

Improving the quality of pedestrian and cyclist safety data (ongoing)

During 2004-2006, preliminary work was undertaken to:

• assess the information the MoT currently has access to that is relevant to pedestrian and cyclist safety through available data sources such as MoT Crash Analysis System (CAS); social information from census data; hospitalisation, ambulance and ACC data; and information from the New Zealand Travel Survey. This last is particularly important to enable safety information to be set in the context of pedestrian and cyclist travel information
• assess the level of the available data (national, regional or local) and what level of data is most useful for different purposes; and
• identify gaps in MoT information - for example, gaps in New Zealand based information on risk perception and data on cycle-only crashes, pedestrian/cycle crashes, pedestrian-only injuries and the issue of intoxicated pedestrians.

This work will continue in 2006/07, followed by development of initiatives to improve the quality of information in co-operation with other government agencies, regional councils and RCAs, and through commissioning specific research where necessary.

Development of safety performance measures (ongoing)

Safety performance measures are required both for this framework and for the Getting There Strategy so progress towards their shared goal of improving the road safety of pedestrians and cyclists can be monitored. The performance measures will also reflect the broader goals of Getting There Strategy. Preliminary work was undertaken in 2004-2006, with the majority of work planned for 2006/07 as part of Getting There strategy implementation.

 

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Footnotes:

2 At the launch of the Getting There strategy, it was announced that $1.15 million (excluding GST) had been allocated to a Bikewise and Walking Initiatives Programme, administered by the Health Sponsorship Council. This was split across the expansion of the existing Bike Wise programme and a new set of walking initiatives over the 2005/2006 financial year.

3 Tolley, R (2004) Reducing casualties whilst promoting walking and cycling: A case study of the City of York, Report prepared for the Land Transport Safety Authority, Wellington, NZ.

4 Pinnacle Research, Davis, A., Bossaert, E. (2004). The Role of Safety in School Travel Plans, Report prepared for the Land Transport Safety Authority, Wellington, NZ.

5 Cleland, B. S. and Walton, D. (2004). Why don't people walk and cycle? Opus Central Laboratories Report No: 528007.00. Report prepared for the Land Transport Safety Authority, Wellington NZ.

6 Alliston, L. and Cossar, D. (2004). Walking and Cycling: Education and Promotion Initiatives to Improve Road Safety: a Literature Review. Report prepared for the Land Transport Safety Authority, Wellington, NZ.

7 A best practice programme is one that is shown to have a measurable success in achieving at least one of the following outcomes:

 

• raising of awareness or knowledge;
• changing of attitude;
• changing of behaviour;
• and improvement of road safety.

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• Pedestrian and Cyclist Road Safety Framework (PDF v7.0, 113kb)