"Naked Streets" Trial Improves Cycling Safety

[Origamist]

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is bucking the trend, claiming that a revolutionary “shared space” traffic-management scheme on Kensington High Street has cut serious and fatal injuries to cyclists by 19 percent...


http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...of_Kensington_and_Chelsea_article_268642.html

 

[Jake]

have'nt that council also allowed cyclists to go down one way streets etc

 

[Origamist]

have'nt that council also allowed cyclists to go down one way streets etc

Yes, contra flow.

 

[Batch]

There was this article in Wired a few years back about 'naked streets' and Hans Monderman.

Great to see that his revolutionary ideas are living on.

 

[John the Monkey]

I'm genuinely surprised - I'd assumed, given the British attitude to their cars, that the end result would be motor traffic bullying everything else off the road.

 

[mr_cellophane]

have'nt that council also allowed cyclists to go down one way streets etc

I thought that only applied to some one-way streets, not all of them.

 

[Origamist]

I thought that only applied to some one-way streets, not all of them.

Yes, only a few.

 

[pinkkaz]

I cycle down Kensington High Street on the commute and hadn't noticed this, although now I've read about it I see what they mean! That is my favourite bit of the commute (although I should factor in that it's the last stretch before I get to work) and I've never had a glimpse of an incident there. In fact, I do think that everyone seems to be really on the ball on this bit of road.

Now if they just take out the traffic lights it would be perfect!

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Isn't this a case of people being a bit unsure what to expect because it's all new and shiny? Once they become more used to it then speeds wil start increasing as they perceive it to be safer and therefore they can speed up a bit...

I have no real idea, but I'm just surmising given the attitude of the motorist generally </tarring all with same brush>

 

[Origamist]

Isn't this a case of people being a bit unsure what to expect because it's all new and shiny? Once they become more used to it then speeds wil start increasing as they perceive it to be safer and therefore they can speed up a bit...

I have no real idea, but I'm just surmising given the attitude of the motorist generally </tarring all with same brush>

It's not that new and shiny - the concept has been in place for a few years now. That said, I have not seen year on year figues since the re-design of the streetscape, but it appears that even if accident figures plateau, the roads are still safer for peds, cyclists etc than without the "naked streets" measures. The Seven Dials redesign bears this out.

 

[Funtboy]

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is bucking the trend, claiming that a revolutionary “shared space” traffic-management scheme on Kensington High Street has cut serious and fatal injuries to cyclists by 19 percent...


http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...of_Kensington_and_Chelsea_article_268642.html

Jesus, what will people do without red lights to stop at?

 

[mister oy]

Where exactly is this? I might go and have a look.

 

[Origamist]

Where exactly is this? I might go and have a look.

Kensington High St

http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/EnvironmentalServices/general/streetscape_principles.asp