Queensland Department of Transport and Main Road (TMR) has taken numerous proactive steps to improve safety for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers by installing and monitoring the performance of priority crossings. However, some practitioners remain concerned about potential risks and implications of implementing priority crossings on projects. TMR has used emerging data to investigate the validity of safety concerns by using data collected from connected vehicles, to examine vehicle speeds and deceleration profiles on the approach to Active Transport Priority Crossings.
This presentation will report on utilisation of connected vehicle data from multiple vehicle manufacturers from a growing sample of traffic. Ten priority crossing sites for active transport were selected for preliminary analysis across Queensland.
The results suggest that the installation of Active Transport Priority Crossing facilities has led to a reduction in average approach speeds at eight out of the ten sites. The reduction in average vehicle speeds ranged from 3.42% to 43.74%. The median speed, average speed, and 85th percentile speed all decreased by 19%, 18%, and 11%, respectively. The results also show a minimal increase in braking rates before and after opening, which is expected, and the values remained well below the conventional “harsh braking” threshold of -0.6 (m/s²).
Analysis indicates that Active Transport Priority Crossings do not result in extreme braking events, do result in lower vehicle speeds at the crossings, and, thus, have a positive effect on road safety. A second outcome is that data collected from connected vehicles has shown promise as a practical, non-invasive way of understanding how road users operate in the system, and further use of this type of data is encouraged.
