Traffic Safety of Kerbs

In the goal of creating a safer environment for bicyclists and pedestrians, there is an on-going debate about the usefulness of kerbs as a separation between these two modes. Right angled kerb types separate well but are not forgiving. Sloped and levelled kerb types are more forgiving, but the extent to which they separate is unknown. A video analysis is performed, observing almost 15,000 cyclists for 12 different locations. From the analysis, it can be concluded that any kerb type functions well in terms of separating cyclists from pedestrians. The number of movements from bicycle track to sidewalk was very low (0.21%) and no (near-) accidents were found. Due to these findings, it is recommended to design forgiving (sloped and levelled) kerb types. More research is needed on how ‘forgiving’ sloped kerbs actually are.
Civil Engineering and Geosciences
Transport & Planning