Report to/Rapport au:
and Council / et au Conseil
31
March 2010 / le 31 mars 2010
Steve
Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint
City Operations/Opérations municipales
Contact/Personne
ressource :
John
Manconi, General Manager/directeur général, Public Works/Travaux publics
613‑580‑2424,
extension/poste 2110, John.Manconi@ottawa.ca
SUBJECT:
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OBJET :
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That the Transportation Committee recommend
Council approve:
1. A
three year pilot of the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program for intersections,
as outlined in this report;
2. That
countermeasures identified by staff, the ward Councillors and the community,
through the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program, be implemented in 2010 at
Donald Street and the Vanier Parkway; and Carling Avenue and Holland Avenue;
and,
3. That
staff prepare an evaluation report of the three year pilot for Transportation
Committee in 2013.
Que le Comité des transports recommande au
Conseil d’approuver :
1. la
mise à l’essai pendant trois ans du programme d’évaluation de la sécurité des
piétons aux intersections, tel qu’il est présenté dans le présent rapport;
2. l’application,
en 2010, des mesures préventives élaborées par le personnel de la Ville, les
conseillers de quartier et la communauté dans le cadre du programme d’évaluation
de la sécurité des piétons aux intersections de la rue Donald et de la
promenade Vanier ainsi que des avenues Carling et Holland;
3. la
remise au Comité des transports, en 2013, d’un rapport d’évaluation du
projet pilote de trois ans préparé par le personnel de la Ville.
On
February 5, 2003, the Transportation and Transit Committee approved the
following motion, which was subsequently approved by City Council on February
26, 2003:
“That
Council direct staff to continue to pursue the development of methods that can
be used to assess pedestrian safety at intersections, using both the
information developed by the Walking Security Index, other analytical
techniques, and report to Committee and Council.”
Assumptions and Analysis:
The
objective of this project on pedestrian safety is to develop a customized
process that combines traffic engineering with public engagement, for
prioritizing and programming road safety improvements for pedestrians crossing
roadways at signalized and non-signalized intersections within the City of
Ottawa.
Residents often have a good understanding for
the day-to-day functioning and existing safety risks at a given intersection in
their community which may, or may not, be reflected in traffic statistics. Therefore, this project involves both community
engagement and traditional safety statistics, in the gathering of data and decision
components of the process. This human-centred
approach to pedestrian safety evaluation used in this Pedestrian Safety
Evaluation Program is a first in Canada.
City staff is not aware of any other municipality within Canada that
uses a collaborative approach with community engagement to undertake pedestrian
safety reviews at intersections.
The Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program will be launched as a three year pilot project, during which a total of approximately 23 intersections will be reviewed from a pedestrian safety perspective. At the end of the three year period, City staff will prepare a report for Transportation Committee on the three year pilot project and provide recommendations on sustaining this program into future years. The benefits of applying this rollout strategy include:
§ Validating the
process that has been developed;
§ Fine tuning the
various tools developed according to data collected and experience gained
during the evaluation of the 23 intersections;
§ Refining the process
for community-input into the program;
§ Confirming resource
requirements to sustain the program in future years; and,
§ Collaborating with
the Infrastructure Services Branch (ISB) staff in order to incorporate this
program in the planning and design phases of future roadway reconstruction
projects.
The
proposed process is based on well founded methodologies developed by the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Transportation Research Board
(TRB).
The
Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program process contains the following phases:
§ A prioritization or
“network screening” phase which is intended to identify high collision and/or high risk locations;
§ A diagnosis or
investigation phase in which possible causal factors are identified, and
candidate countermeasures are selected (the detailed engineering study – DES);
§ A countermeasures
evaluation and programming phase in which project specific recommendations are
made, a prioritized program of work is finalized, and that program is
implemented; and,
§ A monitoring phase in
which the outcome of the implemented countermeasures on safety risks is
assessed, documented, monitored and evaluated.
All four phases of the Program rely
heavily on local community involvement.
Analytical
tools have been developed to assist staff and the community in the
prioritization and countermeasure evaluation phases of the Pedestrian Safety
Evaluation Program.
Applying
this Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program will help minimize the frequency and
severity of preventable collisions involving pedestrians by providing guidance
in the selection of cost-effective countermeasures, improving the speed at
which a decision can be reached, and improving the accuracy of the decision
that is reached.
An
improvement in the accuracy of road safety investment decisions and priorities
returns a great degree of benefits to overall road safety. The Pedestrian
Safety Evaluation Program process is formal, accurate and efficient, and
countermeasures can be selected that will be more economical and minimize the
frequency and severity of preventable collisions involving pedestrians
Consultation:
The consultation activities that have occurred
as part of the development of the proposed Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program
are described below.
City staff have
consulted with the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee during their
scheduled meetings on three occasions: July 16, 2009, November 19, 2009, and
February 18, 2010.
A Public Advisory
Meeting took place at City Hall on September 2, 2009. Members of the Pedestrian and Transit
Advisory Committee, the Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee, and the
Accessibility Advisory Committee were invited to participate.
A Technical Advisory
Committee was formed composed of members from various City Departments (Public
Works, Ottawa Public Health, Infrastructure Services, Transit Services,
Planning and Growth Management) as well as from the Ottawa Police and the
National Capital Commission.
An interactive
charette consultation/evaluation event was held on October 26, 2009, and
included City staff, City of Ottawa advisory committee members and residents.
During
the charette consultation event, two pilot intersections, Donald Street and
Vanier Parkway, and Carling Avenue and Holland Avenue, were reviewed from a
pedestrian safety perspective. The
analytical tools and guidelines developed were used to identify pedestrian
safety risks and issues. Candidate treatments to mitigate the identified risks
were then discussed.
Financial Implications:
There are no financial implications with the approval of the recommendations in this report.
Funds to complete two (2) pilot intersections,
Donald Street and Vanier Parkway, and Carling Avenue and Holland Avenue are available in the Safety Improvement
Program Capital Budget.
Staff does not anticipate that additional funding is required to
implement the recommended countermeasures at the 21 intersections identified for
review in 2011 and 2012 as they will occur during the planned reconstruction of
the roadway.
Following the three year pilot project the evaluation report will
provide recommendations on funding to operate a sustained program.
In 1996, the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton approved a
Transportation Environment Action Plan (TEAP) application that initiated the
“Walking Security Index (WSI) Project”, a joint research project between the
former Region of Ottawa-Carleton and the University of Ottawa. In 2002, the Public Works Department
undertook a study to assess how to operationalize the WSI, including evaluating
how effective this “tool” could be. A technical review to determine the appropriateness
of applying the WSI was conducted. The
review concluded that the WSI could not be implemented as a tool to measure a
pedestrian’s sense of security at intersections, as staff found, at that time,
that it could not be readily “operationalized” or applied in a practical
sense.
This information was provided to the Transportation and Transit
Committee on February 5, 2003. At this
Committee meeting, the following motion was approved, which was subsequently
approved by City Council at its February 26, 2003 meeting:
“That
Council direct staff to continue to pursue the development of methods that can
be used to assess pedestrian safety at intersections, using both the
information developed by the Walking Security Index, other analytical
techniques, and report to Committee and Council.”
Staff has been pursuing the original objective of developing an
analytical tool to quantify the comfort and security of pedestrians. The
required approach to achieve the goals must take into consideration a process
that is cost effective, and yields a sound, consistent, and technically
defensible approach to the evaluation of pedestrian safety. This report
outlines the development of a new and structured process to address
human-centred pedestrian road safety issues at signalized and non-signalized
intersections.
Road users are limited in their attention and
information processing, visual and perception-reaction skills, and hence make
frequent mistakes. These errors often do not result in collisions
because road users compensate for errors of others or because the circumstances
are forgiving (e.g., there is room to manoeuvre and avoid a crash). Near misses, or conflicts, are much more
frequent than collisions and this information does not register in “technical
evaluations”. Accordingly, this type of
history is often the type of critical knowledge local residents have in
relation to a given intersection.
Based on an understanding of the road user
tasks in an intersection, in combination with knowledge of road user
limitations, it is possible to identify ways in which intersection design can
lead to error, and to identify countermeasures likely to reduce these
errors. These design flaws can often be
identified with the help of residents who are familiar with the intersection in
study, hence facilitating the process for selecting countermeasures most likely
to reduce safety risks for pedestrians.
Improvements to pedestrian crossings, at
signalized and non-signalized intersections, can be achieved by introducing
intersection design elements that:
§ Shorten pedestrian
crossing distances;
§ Increase pedestrian
and vehicle visibility;
§ Simplify the
crossing task;
§ Control vehicle
speeds; and,
§ Control vehicle and
pedestrian path.
A general road safety improvement or safety
evaluation program aims at identifying opportunities for investment in
appropriate and cost-effective road safety engineering treatments. Such programs
usually include:
§ A diagnosis or
investigation phase in which possible causal factors are identified, and
candidate countermeasures are selected (the detailed engineering study – DES);
§ A countermeasures
evaluation and programming phase in which project specific recommendations are
made, a prioritized program of work is finalized, and that program is
implemented; and,
§ A monitoring phase in
which the outcome of the implemented countermeasures on safety risks is
assessed, documented, monitored and evaluated.
All four phases of the Program rely heavily on
local community involvement.
This framework of a safety evaluation program
is illustrated in Document 1.
In developing a Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program, the objectives
were to enhance the processes used for selecting candidate intersections for
detailed pedestrian safety analysis and for selecting appropriate and
cost-effective countermeasures to be implemented. These objectives include:
§ Improving the understanding of the relationship
of pedestrian needs and safety issues in the context of signalized and
non-signalized intersections;
§ Developing an overall approach to prioritizing
and programming road safety improvements for pedestrians crossing roadways;
§ Providing a community-based tool for proactive
input to the identification of intersections requiring detailed study;
§ Setting up a defined and documented ongoing
process to build and maintain a 5-year program, thereby increasing overall
safety for pedestrians within the City;
§ Creating a dedicated team of City staff with
resources to carry out the necessary data collection, collation, analysis, and
community consultation;
§ Developing technical tools for prioritizing
intersections and identifying countermeasures to improve pedestrian safety;
and,
§ Providing related technical and user guide
documentation.
The Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program is
essentially a decision support system.
Each of its fundamental components (network screening, diagnosis,
countermeasures evaluation and programming, and monitoring) contributes to
providing information to decision makers, and assists them in making decisions
where funding for road safety engineering improvements related to pedestrians
is best allocated. For the City of
Ottawa, the approval and implementation of the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation
Program will result in:
§ Improving the speed
with which a decision can be reached (efficiency); and,
§ Improving the
accuracy of the decision that is reached (risk management and quality).
An improvement in the accuracy of road safety investment decisions and
priorities returns a great degree of benefits to overall road safety. With this
Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program’s process that is formal, accurate and
efficient, countermeasures can be selected that will be more economical and
minimize the frequency and severity of preventable collisions involving
pedestrians.
City of Ottawa Collision and Enforcement Data
A total of 74,029 reportable collisions were reported in the City of
Ottawa in the five years between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2008. Of
these, 1,825 involved pedestrians with 32 deaths and 1,654 injuries. Additional
information about the statistics presented above is provided in Table 1 of
Document 2.
During this time period, the total societal economic impact due to
collisions involving pedestrians in Ottawa was estimated close to $700 million
in 2008 figures. For the year 2008
alone, the total societal economic impact due to collisions involving
pedestrians was estimated close to $200 million in 2008 figures. The cost estimation amounts are based on the “Willingness to Pay” figures provided by the 2007 MTO-Transport Canada document “Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost
of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario – 2004”. Additional information
about the statistics discussed above is provided in Table 2 of Document 2.
In addition to the collision data, the Ottawa Police Service made
available a list of all offence notices issued in relation to pedestrian
activity from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008. For the four year period, a total of 325
offence notices were issued to drivers in relation to pedestrians. Significant Highway Traffic Act (HTA) and City
By-law offences included failing to yield to pedestrians at intersections or
mid-block locations (58%), and failing to yield to pedestrians or persons in
wheelchairs at crossovers (36%).
For the same four year period, a total of 917 offence notices were
issued to pedestrians. Significant Highway Traffic Act (HTA) and City By-law
offences included failing to use the crosswalk (44%), disobeying the “Don’t
Walk” signal (30%), failing to keep on the left side of the roadway or highway
where there is no sidewalk (10%), and crossing or entering the roadway when
prohibited (8%).
Pedestrian Safety Research and Literature
The technical research and development elements
of this study followed a logical series of steps including a detailed and
carefully focused literature and research-in-progress review that has provided
much of the technical groundwork.
Document 3 provides more information on the research that has been
undertaken in this area by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and
Transportation Research Board (TRB) in the United States. Given that there are many similarities
between Canada and United States roads and infrastructures, review of research
and literature in the United States was found to be the most appropriate in the
City of Ottawa context. Furthermore,
staff believe that the research and methodologies developed in recent years, as
noted in Document 3, are well founded and technically defensible. Staff are of the opinion that the new tools
and guidelines can be used to help reduce pedestrian safety risks at
intersections in the City of Ottawa.
Hence, the methodologies and tools developed by the FHWA, the National
Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and other sources have been
retained and customized for use by the City to form Ottawa’s Pedestrian Safety
Evaluation Program.
A Technical Foundation report describing the review and research
conducted as part of the development of the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation
Program is provided in Document 4. The
Technical Foundation report also includes a section discussing road user needs
at intersections.
Findings of the review and research conducted are summarized below:
§ There is a strong and well-documented
relationship between pedestrian safety risks and site-specific characteristics
such as the width of an intersection and the volume of pedestrians or vehicles;
§ It was determined that the FHWA processes for
prioritization and selecting candidate countermeasures are appropriate for use
in the context of the City of Ottawa. The prioritization tool with the
pedestrian intersection safety index (Ped ISI) was developed using statistical
analysis of data gathered from relevant pedestrian crosswalk sites. In addition, both the Ped ISI and the countermeasure
selection (PEDSAFE) tools use readily available site-specific data, and do not
require onerous amounts of effort or resources to carry out the analyses. In
addition, the simplicity of the tools adds to their user-friendliness and the
ability to develop customized versions in a spreadsheet environment specific to
the City of Ottawa;
§ The use of pedestrian collision history is not
well suited to the prioritization process as the frequency of
pedestrian-related collisions is too sparse; and,
§ Although there are issues with the use of
pedestrian collision history, it is still a valuable piece of evidence during
the diagnostic stage of a Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program, as the patterns
and trends gleaned from the data help identify the key safety risks at a given
site.
Analytical Tools
Based on the literature review and research conducted, two distinct
phases of the proposed Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program proved to be easily
improved with the help of analytical tools. As such, the prioritization tool
(Ottawa Ped ISI) and the countermeasure selection tool (Ottawa PEDSAFE) were
developed.
The User Guide for Technical Tools report, available as Document 5,
provides information concerning the technical foundation for the tools and
guidance on their use.
The concept for each tool and the technical background behind them are
briefly described below.
The Prioritization Tool (Ped ISI):
The FHWA has developed a robust and technically defensible analytical
process for prioritizing pedestrian crosswalks and is suitable for application
in the City of Ottawa context.
Therefore, the analytical elements of this tool were taken and a
customized, spreadsheet-based version for use by City staff was developed and
called the Ottawa Pedestrian Intersection Safety Index (Ped ISI).
The Ottawa Ped ISI process calculates a pedestrian safety index (PSI)
value for each crosswalk at an intersection and then an overall pedestrian
intersection safety index (Ped ISI) based on the average of all
crosswalks. A safety index value of 1.0
represents a relatively low-risk crosswalk or intersection and an index value
of 6.0 represents a high-risk crosswalk or intersection.
One of the greatest benefits of the Ped ISI process is that it requires
a limited amount of data that is readily available. The data that is used in this process
includes type of traffic control, number of through lanes (an indicator of
roadway width), vehicle operating speed, the volume of traffic (an indication of
exposure) and the type of land use (as an indicator of pedestrian
activity). If some of the required data
is not available, one individual can easily collect it during a short field
visit.
The Countermeasure Selection Tool (Ottawa PEDSAFE):
Once the prioritization of intersections for further detailed
engineering study is completed, City staff and residents can complete a field
review of the intersections. A Pedestrian Safety Field Guide and Workbook has
been prepared to assist City staff and residents during the field review
component. This guide and workbook is
shown in Document 6.
Once City staff has carried out a detailed engineering study, reviewed
information submitted by residents, and diagnosed the issues, there is a need
to identify candidate pedestrian safety countermeasures. The FHWA
countermeasure selection tool PEDSAFE was found to be technically robust, used
readily available data and was user friendly.
Therefore, some elements of this expert system have been applied,
additional safety countermeasures have been added and a customized,
spreadsheet-based version for use by City staff has been developed. This adapted countermeasure tool has been
called Ottawa PEDSAFE.
Users of the countermeasure selection tool will need to gather data in
two areas; site characteristic information (i.e. high or low traffic volumes),
and the key site-specific safety risks that need to be addressed (i.e. the need
to reduce vehicle speeds). The majority
of the input data for the tool will likely have been gathered as part of the
detailed engineering study and the residents’ pedestrian and driver needs
assessment.
Once users enter the data, the tool will search the countermeasure
database of over 60 countermeasures and generate two lists of candidate
treatments; one list with countermeasures appropriate for the site
characteristics (list #1) and another list with countermeasures appropriate for
the safety risks (list #2). The tool then will generate a third and final list
of candidate countermeasures from the common treatments that address both site
characteristics and safety risks.
A Pedestrian Intersection Safety Countermeasure Handbook is shown in
Document 7. This document has been
prepared as an aid to select the most appropriate safety treatments once a
problem diagnosis has been made. This tool is intended to supplement the
countermeasure selection tool and provide background and contextual information
for all candidate countermeasures that the software may not provide.
Developing a Collaborative Process
The proposed process to address pedestrian safety issues at signalized
and non-signalized intersections requires the involvements of residents in the
gathering of data and decision components of the process. Based on these
requirements, and following the framework of a safety evaluation program as
previously discussed, a proposed programming process suited to the City of
Ottawa context was developed and named Ottawa’s “Pedestrian Safety Evaluation
Program” (PSEP).
Residents often have a good understanding and
feel for the operations and existing safety risks at a given intersection in
their community. City staff conducting a detailed engineering safety review of
an intersection may overlook this “human-centred” component of pedestrian
safety risk. For this reason, Ottawa’s
Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program has been designed as two separate work
streams to be carried out by City staff and residents, respectively. The work
streams are generally carried out independently and concurrently, with
pre-defined interfaces to maintain communications between the two parties and
to ensure the needs of each are being satisfied.
The complete process for the proposed
Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program is demonstrated graphically in Document 8.
During the course of the entire programming process, there are
consultation meetings between City staff and residents to discuss findings and
results. This provides collaborative opportunities to explain and discuss the
decisions made (to that particular point in the process) as well as gather
input for the next steps.
It may be challenging, in some communities, to engage groups of
individuals to assist City staff in assessing safety issues and risks at the
selected intersections. The City will be
undertaking the following activities to help engage groups of individuals in
this program, such as:
§ Organizing campaigns and distributing flyers in
order to promote the program;
§ Conducting surveys in target locations such as
near parks, residences for the elderly, hospitals and health care centres, etc,
to gather data on public opinion related to pedestrian safety issues at
intersections; and,
§ Developing a collaborative website to serve as
a direct link between residents and City staff.
The human-centred approach to pedestrian safety
evaluation used in this Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program is a first in
Canada. City staff is not aware of any
other municipality within Canada that uses a collaborative approach with
community engagement to undertake pedestrian safety reviews at intersections.
Charette Consultation Event – Evaluation of the Process and Tools
A “charette”
consultation event was held on October 26, 2009 with City staff, Roads and
Cycling, and Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee members and residents to
allow prospective users of the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program to
experience the process, and provide feedback on the procedures, tools and
guidelines.
Two intersections
were selected for review (Donald
Street and Vanier Parkway, and Carling
Avenue and Holland Avenue). Existing
pedestrian safety issues and risks were identified and evaluated at these
intersections. Then, using the tools and
guidelines, candidate countermeasures to reduce the pedestrian safety risks
were discussed.
The candidate
countermeasures identified and discussed through the review of the two pilot
intersections included the following:
§ Installing countdown pedestrian signals;
§ Implementing a leading pedestrian interval
(which give pedestrians a slight lead time making them more visible to
traffic);
§ Providing better access to the push buttons;
§ Enhancing crosswalk markings;
§ Improving the curb height and ramps with steep
grades;
§ Providing adequate sidewalk continuity and
refuge areas between and at transit stops;
§ Improving grades in crosswalk to reduce pooling
of ice and water;
§ Modifying or removing refuge islands (right-turn channel);
§ Installing supplementary signage to identify
the presence of pedestrians;
§ Formalizing two-stage crossing; and,
§ Improving visibility (shrubs/trees to trim or
remove).
This meeting helped
test the tools developed and helped highlight and identify aspects of the
proposed process that may have been overlooked and/or needed improvement.
Recommended Implementation Plan for the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation
Program
Public Works staff is recommending that the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation
Program be launched as a three year pilot project. It is proposed that the two intersections
evaluated at the charette be completed in 2010.
Funds to complete this work are available in the 2007 and 2009 Safety
Improvement Program Budgets.
It is also proposed that a further 21 intersections be identified for
review in 2011 and 2012, which would represent one intersection per ward. These intersections would be selected
throughout the City, in consultation with City Councillors. Staff will identify locations that are on the
prioritization list and where planned reconstruction of the roadway through a
capital works project is planned. Staff
does not foresee additional funding required to implement the recommended
countermeasures at these intersections as they will occur during the planned
reconstruction of the roadway.
At the end of the three year period, City staff will prepare a report
for Transportation Committee on the three year pilot project and will provide
recommendations on sustaining this program into future years. The benefits of applying this rollout
strategy include:
§ Validating the
process that has been developed;
§ Fine tuning the Field
Guide and Workbook and the Countermeasure Handbook based on experience gained
during the evaluation of the 23 intersections;
§ Refining the process
for community-input in the program;
§ Confirming resource
requirements to sustain the program in future years; and,
§ Collaborating with
the Infrastructure Services Branch (ISB) staff in order to incorporate this
program in the planning and design phases of future roadway reconstruction
projects.
RURAL
IMPLICATIONS
The Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program has a
focus on addressing pedestrian safety issues and risks at signalized and
non-signalized intersections that have a high pedestrian volume and are
typically located in an urban/suburban setting.
For those intersections that are located in a
rural setting, where pedestrian activity is normally centered within villages
and hamlets and can have lower pedestrian volumes and different characteristics
than in an urban setting, staff will be relying on the experiences of residents
in these communities to address the concerns of the intersections being evaluated.
The consultation activities that have occurred
as part of the development of the proposed Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program
are described below.
City staff have
consulted with the Pedestrian and Transit Advisory Committee during their
scheduled meetings on three occasions: July 16, 2009, November 19, 2009, and
February 18, 2010.
A Public Advisory
Meeting took place at City Hall on September 2, 2009. Members of the Pedestrian
and Transit Advisory Committee, the Roads and Cycling Advisory Committee, and
the Accessibility Advisory Committee were invited to participate.
A Technical Advisory
Committee was formed composed of members from various City Departments (Public
Works, Ottawa Public Health, Infrastructure Services, Transit Services,
Planning and Growth Management) as well as from the Ottawa Police and the
National Capital Commission.
An interactive
charette consultation/evaluation event was held on October 26, 2009, and
included City staff, City of Ottawa advisory committee members and residents.
COMMENTS
BY THE WARD COUNCILLORS
City staff have met
with the Chair of Transportation Committee, Councillor McRae, who is supportive of the program. All Councillors will be consulted following the approval of
the pilot.
The principles of the Ottawa Pedestrian Plan
(approved by City Council in June 2009) are reflected in the safety strategies
recommended in the proposed Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program.
The principles of the Transportation Master
Plan are reflected in the proposed Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program by
serving as an initiative to promote safe travel behaviours by pedestrians and
other road users, including focus on vulnerable pedestrians such as children
and seniors.
The collaborative approach of the Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program is in line with the City’s Service Excellence mandate of community engagement.
TECHNICAL
IMPLICATIONS
There are no technical implications associated
with the implementation of the report recommendations.
There are no financial implications with the approval of the recommendations in this report.
Funds to complete two (2) pilot intersections,
Donald Street and Vanier Parkway, and Carling Avenue and Holland Avenue are available in the Safety Improvement
Program Capital Budget.
Staff does not anticipate that additional funding is required to implement
the recommended countermeasures at the 21 intersections identified for review
in 2011 and 2012 as they will occur during the planned reconstruction of the
roadway.
Following the three year pilot project the evaluation report will
provide recommendations on funding to operate a sustained program.
Document 1 – General
Form of a Safety Evaluation Program
Document 2 –
Reportable Collisions Involving Pedestrians (2004 to 2008)
Document 3 – Recent
Pedestrian Safety Research and Literature
Document 4 – Technical Foundation Report (Distributed separately and held on file with the City Clerk)
Document 5 – User Guide
for Technical Tools (Distributed separately and held on file with the City
Clerk)
Document 6 – Pedestrian
Safety Field Guide and Workbook (Distributed separately and held on file with
the City Clerk)
Document 7 –
Pedestrian Intersection Safety Countermeasure Handbook (Distributed separately and held on file with the City
Clerk)
Document 8 – Illustration of the Proposed Process
- Pedestrian Safety Evaluation Program
Following Council approval, Public Works staff will implement the
recommendations identified in this report.
DOCUMENT 1
General form of a pedestrian
safety evaluation program
DOCUMENT 2
REPORTABLE COLLISIONS INVOLVING
PEDESTRIANS (2004 TO 2008)
Table 1: Reportable Collisions Involving
Pedestrians, January 1st 2004 to December 31st 2008
Year |
Reportable
collisions |
Reportable
collisions involving pedestrians |
Pedestrian
deaths in reportable collisions |
Pedestrian
injuries in reportable collisions |
||||
Total |
Total |
Percent of total |
Increase from
previous year |
Total |
Increase from
previous year |
Total |
Increase from
previous year |
|
# |
# |
% |
% |
# |
% |
# |
% |
|
2008 |
15,638 |
372 |
2.4% |
2.5% |
10 |
67% |
333 |
2% |
2007 |
15,309 |
363 |
2.4% |
-2.9% |
6 |
20% |
327 |
-2% |
2006 |
14,370 |
374 |
2.6% |
1.4% |
5 |
0% |
334 |
-1% |
2005 |
14,570 |
369 |
2.5% |
6.3% |
5 |
-17% |
339 |
6% |
2004 |
14,142 |
347 |
2.5% |
n/a |
6 |
n/a |
321 |
n/a |
Total |
74,029 |
1,825 |
2.5% |
32 |
1,654 |
Table 2: Societal Economic Impact of Reportable
Collisions Involving Pedestrians, January 1st 2004 to December 31st
2008
Year |
Reportable
collisions involving pedestrians |
Pedestrian
deaths |
Pedestrian injuries |
Estimated
societal cost (2008 $)* |
# |
# |
# |
$ 000,000 |
|
2008 |
372 |
10 |
333 |
201 |
2007 |
363 |
6 |
327 |
132 |
2006 |
374 |
5 |
334 |
116 |
2005 |
369 |
5 |
339 |
116 |
2004 |
347 |
6 |
321 |
132 |
Total |
1825 |
32 |
1654 |
697 |
*Cost
estimation amounts based on the “Willingness to Pay” figures provided by the
2007 MTO-Transport Canada document “Analysis and Estimation of the Social Cost
of Motor Vehicle Collisions in Ontario – 2004”. The 2004 values provided in the
document have been inflated with a CPI of 2.4%.
DOCUMENT 3
Recent pedestrian safety
research and literature
Recent Pedestrian Safety Research and
Literature
The field of “traffic engineering science” has progressed significantly
since the City’s original efforts on pedestrian safety began. In particular,
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Transportation Research Board
(TRB) have a large body of research that has been carried out in recent years
related to pedestrian safety at intersections.
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
The FHWA began studying pedestrian safety countermeasures in 2002 and
produced an initial document called the Pedestrian
Facility User Guide: Providing Safety and Mobility. This work was updated
in 2004 and out of these efforts came an expert system entitled PEDSAFE. This
tool facilitates the countermeasure selection process by requiring the user to
identify the key safety risks (from a list of eight risk types) and predominant
collision types that are occurring at a given site (from a list of 12 collision
types). The countermeasures identified in the PEDSAFE tool are based on past
research efforts and these treatments have been shown to improve pedestrian
safety at crosswalks.
Following the efforts in producing the PEDSAFE tool, the FHWA determined
that there was a need to develop a technical process to proactively identify
and rank sites for safety upgrades. The subsequent study compiled data from
multiple sites and a statistical regression analysis was carried out to
determine which site-specific characteristics demonstrated the strongest
relationship. From this study an equation calculating a pedestrian intersection
safety index (Ped ISI) was developed.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program
(NCHRP)
Under the TRB, the NCHRP was created as a means to conduct research in
areas that affect highway planning, design, construction, operation and
maintenance. The NCHRP Report 500 provides guidance when implementing the
AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The focus of the Report 500 series is to
identify potential safety countermeasure strategies, classify them, provide an
indication on implementing timeframes, and the relative cost of implementing
the strategy. Volume 10 of this series provides guidance on reducing collisions
involving pedestrians.
DOCUMENT
8