Concepts posts will expand on ideas discussed in each Fatal Crash Review post.
These ideas will be added to the RESOURCES section of the site.
I will try to keep these short and "screenshot-able" for easy sharing and include at least one link for a deeper dive into the subject.
Each Fatal Crash Review post will be tagged with the concepts discussed.
Once the resources tab gets built up, there may be weeks without a Concepts post because all of the concepts in that post have already been covered.
Crossing Distance
The distance that a pedestrian has to travel to cross the street is critical in two ways. First, longer crossings are inherently less safe than shorter crossings. Second, shorter crossings are more desirable to pedestrians. A longer crossing, like what we see at Madison and Stop 11 may even discourage a pedestrian from attempting to cross the street at all... which forces them to drive and creates more traffic. Many Vision Zero concepts attempt to address this issue.
SRTS Guide: Tools to Reduce Crossing Distances for Pedestrians (saferoutesinfo.org)
Duplicative Access
This may be renamed if someone points out a more official name of this concept. Duplicative Access is excessive driver access to an area that creates unnecessary conflict points, unneeded lane miles, and increases the length of pedestrian crossings. The image below illustrates. All of the driveways circled are providing access to a block of businesses that are all connected. Why would the city allow all of these conflict points to exist when half of them would provide the same driver access?
Leading Pedestrian Interval
This is an easy one to drop into your preferred search engine to learn more. A leading pedestrian interval gives pedestrians a head-start on drivers when signal conflicts will exist. Drivers turning left or right on green will often be turning into active crosswalks in busy pedestrian areas. The leading pedestrian interval activates the crosswalk BEFORE the drivers are given the green light. Hopefully, the pedestrian is able to completely clear the conflict point before the driver is even given the opportunity to progress.
Mid-Block Crossing
There are two forms of mid-block crossings. The dangerous version is an unauthorized crossing and the safer version is a designed crossing. There are many reasons a pedestrian chooses to cross mid-block, but the simplest is usually that it's the shortest path to their destination. If pedestrians are frequently crossing at unauthorized crossing locations, it needs to be addressed before easily predictable conflicts occur.
Pedestrian Island
Crossing four or more lanes of traffic? A pedestrian island could be just the refuge you need. A pedestrian island should provide protection from drivers in most situations. The minimum would be a curb. Bollards, landscaping, and other barriers could also be used. Non-permanent pedestrian islands could also be created with jersey barriers.
Road Diet
A critical tool for Indianapolis, a road diet removes pavement that we can't currently afford to maintain. There are many ways to do a road diet, including temporary measures. A simple version would be converting four lanes of traffic into 2-3 lanes with a protected bike/ped lane. The most intense version would be removing an interstate, like I65 between the north and south splits if you need any ideas.
Roundabout
Indy residents are definitely familiar with roundabouts. There's a famous one right in the center of our city and it's on our flag. Many of us have also been to the roundabout capitol of the world, Carmel. The great thing about roundabouts is they are extremely safe for drivers. Almost nobody dies in a roundabout crash. Where Carmel initially failed though, is ped/bike safety was an afterthought. Indianapolis will have to make an effort to focus on ped/bike safety if we ramp-up roundabout implementation in the city.
Sight Lines
Design a drag strip and you should not be surprised when drivers exceed the 35mph speed limit signs you installed. If a driver can see 100s of yards in front of them like they can on an empty interstate, you're giving them a very unsubtle clue that interstate speeds are appropriate. Create tighter corridors and drivers will understand that excessive speed could damage their precious vehicles (the main thing they care about when driving).
Slip Lane
A slip lane is a stretch of pavement that is only maintained so that drivers can make right turns as quickly as possible. They're bad for the safety of all users and are often designed to soften 90 degree turns so that the driver can make the turn even faster. A slip lane puts pedestrians and drivers in conflict by design. Nearly every Fatal Crash Review post will have this tag, because I will always be suggesting their removal.