[sustran] Re: Why do people speed?

[John Ernst]

I wonder if the usual traffic calming techniques -- developed, I 
believe, primarily for car traffic -- will work well in cities with 
large numbers of motorcycles.

We should have a test example in Jakarta within a few months as a 
traffic calming / pedestrian improvement attempt is now being built 
at Plaza Fatahillah - 100m north of the Kota BRT terminal.  We need 
to see how it affects motorcycles, though it clearly will not be as 
effective as on cars -- judging from the fact that motorcycles were 
driving through the construction zone last month, despite numerous 
obstacles set out by the construction workers.

There is another factor to consider: even low-speed motorcycles, as 
found in central Hanoi, are extremely hostile to pedestrian 
activity.  It may not be fatal or even a serious injury to be hit by 
a 20km/hr motorcycle, but it certainly isn't pleasant either... and 
it's very common to at least be whacked by a mirror (in Jakarta, too).

Best,
John Ernst
www.itdp.org

At 09:10 AM 12/31/2006, Eric Britton (ChoiceMail) wrote:
>Dear Dave, Lee, Peter and colleagues,
>
>As you all know, on the "how to" side this is well plowed terrain -- 
>the rich literature and our best sources are chock full of all kinds 
>of ways and stuff that works quite nicely in this context. Using 
>parked cars to slow down moving vehicles is just one of many. At the 
>leading edge we now have a solid thirty year track record of 
>accomplishment and different ways to achieve this, and it can safely 
>be said that the entire slow-street movement is steadily gaining in 
>momentum and unimpeachable on-street results.
>...
>Eric Britton
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Lee Schipper [mailto:SCHIPPER at wri.org]
>Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 4:50 PM
>To: eric.britton at ecoplan.org; eric.britton at free.fr; 
>LotsLessCars at yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: [LotsLessCars] Why do people speed?
>
>This also leads to a speculation of mine Eric, so thanks.
>Is it possible that in a moped-based city, like Hanoi, that at least in
>the most crowded areas traffic is kind of self limiting in speed,
>people are so close to each other that they ARE on guard (despite
>horrible violations of lane discipline) and the whole things actually
>works...
>
>While in the  outer reaches of Hanoi, or in Indian cities, there is so
>much room for speeding that  the system doesn't really work?
>
>If I am right about the  dense parts of Hanoi and the self-speed
>limiting nature of motorbike speeds  in very dense cities, then not only
>might slow, low-powered mopes make sense, but electric bikes as well,
>which cannot go much over 10 km;/hour, could be the "next step" if  it
>could be shown that they provide essential low emissions, low speed,
>low risk and low footprint mobility in combination with mass transit,
>and in place of cars?
>
>Happy Safe New Year to everyone
>
>lee
>
...