Delhi transport department’s ‘tactical urbanism’ trials improved pedestrian safety: Study

During the trial period, pedestrian exposure distance and pedestrian exposure time have come down by 47 and 30 per cent respectively. Pedestrian exposure distance means (in metres) the distance for which a pedestrian is exposed to traffic. Pedestrian exposure time means (in seconds) the duration of time for which a pedestrian is exposed to traffic.

The public realm, including the refuge islands and pedestrian walkways, grew by 25 per cent ensuring safe pedestrian passage, the study found. Further, pedestrian-vehicle conflicts came down by 32 per cent (38 per cent lesser conflicts with cars and 33 per cent with motorcycles), it says. Before the trials, on average, around 252 pedestrians conflicted with vehicles such as trucks, autos cycles, cars and buses from 9 am to 11 pm. Whereas after the conflicts between people and vehicles came down to 171, the study says.

The survey shows that ‘tactical urbanism’ designs helped to reduce the maximum speed at intersections by 10 per cent at peak hours and 2 per cent at non-peak hours. The overall ‘vehicle-to-vehicle’ conflict was reduced by 81 per cent and by 85 per cent at peak hours.

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“It was found that reducing the lane width of free left turns led to an overall reduction of 53 per cent in the clearance speed for the ITO to Daryaganj approach. Similarly, streamlining travel lanes and expansion of refuge islands reduced the clearance speed by 36 per cent for the Shantivan Chowk to Daryaganj approach,” shows the study.

The main aim of this project was to make high fatality intersections into high-safety intersection for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

Tactical urbanism trials are temporary, quick, and relatively low-cost interventions, which test out urban design, transportation planning and infrastructural changes for improving road safety for all road users, especially the most vulnerable, like pedestrians, cyclists and other non-motorised transport users.

The trials were implemented from November 23, 2021, on the four-armed Rajghat intersection in the vicinity of Rajghat Mahatma Gandhi museum, which includes a crossing of three roads — Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, and Satyagraha Marg. The road approaches are directed towards Rajghat, ITO, Shantivan Chowk and Daryaganj.