An overview on Traffic calming

The Traffic calming is a set of strategies used by inner-city planners and traffic engineers which intends to slow down traffic and get better safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, even though some of these features can also be unsafe to cyclists. It is currently comparatively common in Europe, particularly Northern Europe; less so in North America.

The Traffic calming has customarily been justified on the grounds of pedestrian security and lessening of noise and local air pollution which are side effects of the traffic. On the other hand, it has become ever more apparent that streets have many social and recreational functions which are strictly impaired by fast car traffic. For instance, residents of streets with light traffic had, on normal, three more friends and twice as numerous acquaintances as the people on streets with heavy traffic which was or else similar in dimensions, income, etc. For much of the twentieth century, streets were intended by engineers who were charged simply with ensuring traffic flow and not with fostering the other functions of streets. The underlying principle for traffic calming is currently broadening to contain designing for these functions.

One most important side effect of traffic calming is the impedance to urgent situation services. A police car can effortlessly navigate most traffic calming measures. The same cannot be believed for fire trucks and ambulances, yet. They time and again have to slow down to securely cross speed bumps or chicanes. In several locales, the law prohibits traffic calming measures by the side of the routes used by the emergency services.