Traffic Management

MOVA traffic signal control is used at approximately 3000 junctions in the UK. The recently released MOVA M5 has a facility to exclude the use of the more distance ‘IN’ detectors (normally around 8 seconds journey time from the stop line) on some or all of the approaches, thus saving ducting and maintenance cost. Commonly known as ‘Compact MOVA’, it can only be used on low speed approaches (where the 85th percentile speed is less than 35mph). The performance of Compact MOVA has been found to be better than traditional Vehicle Actuation control, matching standard MOVA in saturated conditions. Studies have also shown that Compact MOVA can significantly reduce pedestrian delay at stand-alone signal controlled pedestrian crossings with negligible effect on vehicular delay when compared with Vehicle Actuation. Previous risk assessments and a limited safety study indicate that Compact MOVA is as least as safe as Vehicle Actuation. The research in this project, commissioned by the Department for Transport, is necessary to confirm, or otherwise, these findings, and give confidence in the advice given to Local Traffic Authorities. This report describes the study carried out at three stand-alone Puffin crossings and two junctions. The investigation includes conflict analysis and an assessment of pedestrian and driver behaviour.

Roadside advertising is a common sight on urban roads. Previous research suggests the presence of advertising increases mental workload and changes the profile of eye fixations, drawing attention away from the driving task. This study was conducted using a driving simulator and integrated eye-tracking system to compare driving behaviour across a number of experimental advertising conditions. Forty eight participants took part in this trial, with three factors examined; Advert type, position of adverts and exposure duration to adverts. The results indicated that when passing advert positions, drivers: • spent longer looking at video adverts; • glanced at video adverts more frequently; • tended to show greater variation in lateral lane position with video adverts; • braked harder on approach to video adverts; • drove more slowly past video adverts. The findings indicate that video adverts caused significantly greater impairment to driving performance when compared to static adverts. Questionnaire results support the findings of the data recorded in the driving simulator, with participants being aware their driving was more impaired by the presence of video adverts. Through analysis of the experimental data, this study has provided the most detailed insight yet into the effects of roadside billboard advertising on driver behaviour.

Since Well-maintained Highways was published in 2005, Government Policy with respect to highway maintenance has developed and evolved in a number of areas. There have also been a number of changes, including the introduction of new statutory duties on highway authorities. To assist users of this Code, the Roads Liaison Group has prepared complementary guidance to advise and direct users to where they may find more up to date information to assist them in implementing best practice and the recommendations of the Code. Users of the Code should treat this complementary guidance as up-to date and having the same status as the Code. Where paragraphs have been amended, they supersede the ones in the Code. It must be noted that these updates should not be read in isolation but should be considered within the context of the Code

This Review contains articles on a variety of topics relating to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). ITS United Kingdom publishes two reviews each year, with the support of its Members.

The SROH sets out standards to ensure highway is returned to use following work by statutory undertakers to the appropriate standard. This statutory Code is published by the Secretary of State under Section 71 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. Changes in SROH provide a wider range of approved materials and working methods to undertakers carrying out works.

The UK faces a real threat from terrorism and crowded places remain an attractive target. To combat this threat, the Government has developed a strategic framework to reduce the vulnerability of crowded places to terrorist attack. The ‘Working Together to Protect Crowded Places’ guidance explains this framework and in particular the contributions that key partners, including local authorities, police, Government Offices, devolved administrations and businesses can make. ‘Crowded Places: The Planning System and Counter-Terrorism’ and ‘Protecting Crowded Places: Design and Technical Issues’ provide advice about counter-terrorism protective security measures to those involved in the planning and design of the built environment.

Designing Streets is the first policy statement in Scotland for street design and marks a change in the emphasis of guidance on street design towards place-making and away from a system focused upon the dominance of motor vehicles. It has been created to support the Scottish Government’s place-making agenda and is intended to sit alongside the 2001 planning policy document Designing Places, which sets out government aspirations for design and the role of the planning system in delivering these.

This short guidance note on Permit Schemes is aimed at English local highway authorities, and provides tips and suggestions on scheme development and application practicalities. It reflects experience and lessons learned during the development and approval of the first schemes, and should be read in conjunction with, other Department for Transport (DfT) guidance documents giving more detailed advice.

Objective To quantify the effect of the introduction of 20 mph (32 km an hour) traffic speed zones on road collisions, injuries, and fatalities in London. Design Observational study based on analysis of geographically coded police data on road casualties, 1986-2006. Analyses were made of longitudinal changes in counts of road injuries within each of 119 029 road segments with at least one casualty with conditional fixed effects Poisson models. Estimates of the effect of introducing 20 mph zones on casualties within those zones and in adjacent areas were adjusted for the underlying downward trend in traffic casualties

This issue of Current Topics includes over 75 abstracts of reports, conference papers, books and journal articles which focus on the use of road pricing to manage traffic demand and to reduce the environmental impact of road traffic. Amongst the specific topics covered are charging principles (e.g. time, distance, congestion levels) methods of payment, modelling the effects of road pricing, driver response to road pricing and technological solutions. Road pricing in London, the results of the Stockholm trial and pilot schemes in the USA are discussed. These items have been selected from the material added to the Transport Research Laboratory's Library Database between 2008 and 2009. Much of the relevant English language published literature from the UK, USA, Australia and Europe is included; some of the non-UK literature is included courtesy of the OECD International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) database.