I wrote about risk and liability from the designer's point of view back in 2013, but this week I thought it would be worth revisiting the subject.
The reason for revisiting is because there are designers out there worrying about using continuous footways and cycle tracks over side streets in case they are sued. The fear comes from a concern that should there be a collision after doing something seen as innovative or unusual, then they are in the firing line.
I do understand their concern because let's be honest, people like to operate in their comfort zones and for a highway engineer, carrying on with a design approach which has decades of use behind it is very comforting. Let's look at four junction layouts (some of you will recognise this graphic);
The two on the left are really familiar and from a driver's point of view, one is invited to assume priority over anyone crossing the side street, despite what the Highway Code recommends that they only ever read when learning to drive. This layout being UK custom and practice means that people walking are told to be subservient through the design.
This approach was never critically reviewed before it was rolled out, it has its roots in history where at some point (which varied across the world), we started building footways (sidewalks) to keep foot traffic up out of the mess and filth of the street or to offer a little protection from carts. Over time, footways became commonplace, but in modern times they have evolved to be the bit that people stick to while walking leaving the relative high power of the motor vehicle to claim the space.
This approach was never critically reviewed before it was rolled out, it has its roots in history where at some point (which varied across the world), we started building footways (sidewalks) to keep foot traffic up out of the mess and filth of the street or to offer a little protection from carts. Over time, footways became commonplace, but in modern times they have evolved to be the bit that people stick to while walking leaving the relative high power of the motor vehicle to claim the space.
The top right image is also familiar and part of a generally modern idea of trying to give some priority back to walking. The layout may suggest that both people walking and driving could take priority, although it would very much depend on the person and the location. From that point of view, a potentially ambiguous layout and one where where someone making an incorrect assumption means the most vulnerable party in a collision comes off worse.
The bottom right is of a continuous affair which suggests that drivers may be guests, although we'd probably look to provide some tactile paving to assist visually impaired people who require assistance.
Across the North Sea, the layout is old hat and when correctly applied one can stand at a junction like the one above (Amsterdam) and see it work without any significant issues. It's a design that you do find in the UK, sometimes very old layouts, but it's never really taken off as an approach. There are some contemporary examples such as Walton-on-the-Naze (below) which was built before we started talking about continuous treatments as a "thing".
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So, if we were nervous about doing something new, does this nervousness come from ourselves not having tried it or because nobody else has ever tried it? Clearly with lots of examples in the UK and elsewhere, being nervous has to be an issue for the individual. What's the way forward then?
At the heart of all of this, I don't actually think this is a radical design approach because if you think about the number of driveways we have in the UK which still look like the footway, then there must be millions of crossings of the footway every day with very little risk. The "new" risks will be applying a fairly unusual design to side streets and in the case of continuous cycle tracks, adding cycle traffic to a conflict point.
The key is to be clear in setting objectives, how we use evidence and how we record our decisions. The next part of this post will be to set out a methodology for developing a design for the unfamiliar using continuous treatments as an example. There are of course other ways to do it and you may pick a different order or other stages.
Competence
This is key. As a designer, how confident are you that you have enough knowledge of design, legislation and road safety to be able to adapt your to a new situation? What training and experience do you need to design this "thing" you are interested in?
It is a bit chicken and egg I know, but if you're design response is to revert back to bellmouth junction design then I wonder if you are competent to design that given how things are changing. Be honest with yourself and others. Get some help in and learn from that help. Being involved means that you'll gain experience and understanding.
Setting objectives - What are we trying to achieve?
Pretty simple really, I think we're trying to provide side road treatments that assist people walking and cycling to continue to move smoothly with interactions with motor vehicles taking place in a managed way.
We are not providing absolute priority because that is only possible with traffic signals and zebra crossings, but we are providing implied priority which should be understood by all users.
Literature and policy review
Are there any studies into the thing you are trying to design? What were the conclusions? How old was the study? For continuous treatments, I found this study commissioned by TfL after a minute of Googling. There's some interesting discussion based on different design layouts. There is more out there if you look a bit harder. Unfortunately we have yet to have any UK guidance
Is there legislation covering the use of continuous treatments? Not specifically because they are not a "thing" defined in law as a zebra crossing is. Well I wrote about my view on the law and continuous treatments here - I am not suggesting citing anything I have written as policy or legislation, but there is a thought process to go through and you need that knowledge of design, legislation and road safety.
Robert Weetman goes into a lot of detail on what we should be looking to achieve in this blog post. Robert, like me, is at pains to point out that it is essentially for the designer to understand the risk, but there is nothing stopping us from reading articles and forming considered opinions.
Exemplars
At the heart of all of this, I don't actually think this is a radical design approach because if you think about the number of driveways we have in the UK which still look like the footway, then there must be millions of crossings of the footway every day with very little risk. The "new" risks will be applying a fairly unusual design to side streets and in the case of continuous cycle tracks, adding cycle traffic to a conflict point.
The key is to be clear in setting objectives, how we use evidence and how we record our decisions. The next part of this post will be to set out a methodology for developing a design for the unfamiliar using continuous treatments as an example. There are of course other ways to do it and you may pick a different order or other stages.
Competence
This is key. As a designer, how confident are you that you have enough knowledge of design, legislation and road safety to be able to adapt your to a new situation? What training and experience do you need to design this "thing" you are interested in?
It is a bit chicken and egg I know, but if you're design response is to revert back to bellmouth junction design then I wonder if you are competent to design that given how things are changing. Be honest with yourself and others. Get some help in and learn from that help. Being involved means that you'll gain experience and understanding.
Setting objectives - What are we trying to achieve?
Pretty simple really, I think we're trying to provide side road treatments that assist people walking and cycling to continue to move smoothly with interactions with motor vehicles taking place in a managed way.
We are not providing absolute priority because that is only possible with traffic signals and zebra crossings, but we are providing implied priority which should be understood by all users.
Literature and policy review
Are there any studies into the thing you are trying to design? What were the conclusions? How old was the study? For continuous treatments, I found this study commissioned by TfL after a minute of Googling. There's some interesting discussion based on different design layouts. There is more out there if you look a bit harder. Unfortunately we have yet to have any UK guidance
Is there legislation covering the use of continuous treatments? Not specifically because they are not a "thing" defined in law as a zebra crossing is. Well I wrote about my view on the law and continuous treatments here - I am not suggesting citing anything I have written as policy or legislation, but there is a thought process to go through and you need that knowledge of design, legislation and road safety.
Robert Weetman goes into a lot of detail on what we should be looking to achieve in this blog post. Robert, like me, is at pains to point out that it is essentially for the designer to understand the risk, but there is nothing stopping us from reading articles and forming considered opinions.
Exemplars
Who else has done the thing you want to do? What worked and didn't work? Is there data available? If it is an idea from another country, how does the legal system translate to the UK? Does the design rely on administrative rules or does the design explain how to navigate?
For continuous treatments we have lots of UK examples now and in fact, I don't think we even need to look to any other countries. They are established and understandable treatments and you can easily visit them and see how they work. Ask the people who designed them about their experiences too.
Data
For continuous treatments we have lots of UK examples now and in fact, I don't think we even need to look to any other countries. They are established and understandable treatments and you can easily visit them and see how they work. Ask the people who designed them about their experiences too.
Data
What does the data say? Look at casualty data for the existing site and look at the traffic flows (people walking and cycling included). Does motor traffic dominate the junction? Will motor traffic flow need to be reduced? What are your expected walking/ cycling flows and will they outnumber motor traffic flows?
In some ways, not having formal guidance might push us to be more critical of our approach. If there was a table that said with X vehicles and Y pedestrians the approach is safe, then we risk people simply ticking boxes.
Data also extends to using video surveys, site interviews and repeating data gathering for the layout after it's built.
In some ways, not having formal guidance might push us to be more critical of our approach. If there was a table that said with X vehicles and Y pedestrians the approach is safe, then we risk people simply ticking boxes.
Data also extends to using video surveys, site interviews and repeating data gathering for the layout after it's built.
Consultation
I don't mean chuck out a letter to the neighbours and see if they object. Discuss the proposals with people who might be most affected such as visually impaired people, wheelchair users, local schools and so on. Be prepared to adjust and refine your approach.
I was of the view that we can just push on with a footway across a side street until I was told that some visually impaired people want to know that they are in a location which would have a higher likelihood of encountering a motor vehicle and counting side streets help with navigation.
The solution is blister tactile paving and in fact, not having a radius kerb to cut paving into (because of the continuous design) means a tider job with the tactiles (no little pieces) which means a lower risk of them failing (look above at the example from Walton-on-the-Naze to see what I mean).
Risk assessment
I've also covered risk assessment previously, but it's a useful design tool. The aim of a continuous treatment is to give people walking and cycling a smooth experience across a side street and that is influenced by how each user interprets what they encounter.
For example, running a cycle track across the side street will invite a person cycling to continue because it looks like their space;
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The photograph above (Blackfriars Road, London) shows a carriageway level cycle track which invites one to keep cycling through the design, but perhaps it's not as good as my earlier Dutch example.
The principal risk is a person cycling being hit by a driver turning out of the side street and so using a matrix I've talked about before, here is a quick assessment (just for illustration, I have no background data to rely on);
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The likelihood is linked to the number of drivers emerging and cycle traffic flows. The consequence is injury, but drivers will be emerging slowly, so an injury is probably in the "medium" area.
So I reckon a medium risk of someone being hit. I've given this assessment because perhaps the side street is quite busy and for a 2-way cycle track, drivers don't always look both ways.
A way to reduce the risk is to reduce the conflict and so we could make the cycle track one-way to remove the problem of drivers not looking in the "unfamiliar" direction. Let's reassess the risk;
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The consequence of someone being hit is the same, but getting rid of the unfamiliar direction reduces the likelihood and so using the simple red/ green/ amber approach we are in the green and so we can be reasonably happy.
But wait, we can't make the cycle track one-way, so do we go with design? There is no reason why we cannot because we are judging all sorts of things, but we might decide to adjust the layout of the side road to slow drivers down even more - we could put up a sign explaining a two-way cycle track, but a sign is essentially an administrative control which does help us in the long term.
Along a whole scheme, we might have fewer problem locations and so in the larger scheme of things where we are trying to transform an area we might note the risk, but judge it to be acceptable because because we don't consider the outcome of a collision as one which would result in a serious injury.
Road Safety Audit
Get an independent safety review undertaken, but it needs to be with people who understand the objectives and are competent in that type of design. Having people who do nothing but audit motorway layouts look at this type of layout probably isn't going to help.
Conclusion
The worry at the back of the designer's mind is being sued. You either work for a local authority or a consultant working for a local authority. You will never be working with total authority or autonomy because building stuff on the street has to go through some sort of process and at some point there is an agreement to proceed. In other words, it will never be 100% down to you.
But let's imagine the worst (and this is pretty hypothetical). A person cycling is hit by an emerging driver and hurt. The cyclist takes out a civil claim against you personally. Your defence will be that you are competent in what you are doing and that you've followed a structured design process which has taken into account the things I written about (and probably a great deal more).
It's a good idea to keep records of what you've done, but even if you haven't you will be able to explain the process logically (although writing stuff down is a good idea). You will be able to show how you have mitigated the risks through good design and understanding how your design works.
I really don't think that continuous treatments are innovative, but their design does change how risks might be viewed because they are not custom and practice. The good news is that the more of them that we build, the more that the people using them will become familiar with them. The tiny risk of being sued will be even smaller.
I was of the view that we can just push on with a footway across a side street until I was told that some visually impaired people want to know that they are in a location which would have a higher likelihood of encountering a motor vehicle and counting side streets help with navigation.
The solution is blister tactile paving and in fact, not having a radius kerb to cut paving into (because of the continuous design) means a tider job with the tactiles (no little pieces) which means a lower risk of them failing (look above at the example from Walton-on-the-Naze to see what I mean).
Risk assessment
I've also covered risk assessment previously, but it's a useful design tool. The aim of a continuous treatment is to give people walking and cycling a smooth experience across a side street and that is influenced by how each user interprets what they encounter.
For example, running a cycle track across the side street will invite a person cycling to continue because it looks like their space;
The photograph above (Blackfriars Road, London) shows a carriageway level cycle track which invites one to keep cycling through the design, but perhaps it's not as good as my earlier Dutch example.
The principal risk is a person cycling being hit by a driver turning out of the side street and so using a matrix I've talked about before, here is a quick assessment (just for illustration, I have no background data to rely on);
The likelihood is linked to the number of drivers emerging and cycle traffic flows. The consequence is injury, but drivers will be emerging slowly, so an injury is probably in the "medium" area.
So I reckon a medium risk of someone being hit. I've given this assessment because perhaps the side street is quite busy and for a 2-way cycle track, drivers don't always look both ways.
A way to reduce the risk is to reduce the conflict and so we could make the cycle track one-way to remove the problem of drivers not looking in the "unfamiliar" direction. Let's reassess the risk;
The consequence of someone being hit is the same, but getting rid of the unfamiliar direction reduces the likelihood and so using the simple red/ green/ amber approach we are in the green and so we can be reasonably happy.
But wait, we can't make the cycle track one-way, so do we go with design? There is no reason why we cannot because we are judging all sorts of things, but we might decide to adjust the layout of the side road to slow drivers down even more - we could put up a sign explaining a two-way cycle track, but a sign is essentially an administrative control which does help us in the long term.
Along a whole scheme, we might have fewer problem locations and so in the larger scheme of things where we are trying to transform an area we might note the risk, but judge it to be acceptable because because we don't consider the outcome of a collision as one which would result in a serious injury.
Road Safety Audit
Get an independent safety review undertaken, but it needs to be with people who understand the objectives and are competent in that type of design. Having people who do nothing but audit motorway layouts look at this type of layout probably isn't going to help.
Conclusion
The worry at the back of the designer's mind is being sued. You either work for a local authority or a consultant working for a local authority. You will never be working with total authority or autonomy because building stuff on the street has to go through some sort of process and at some point there is an agreement to proceed. In other words, it will never be 100% down to you.
But let's imagine the worst (and this is pretty hypothetical). A person cycling is hit by an emerging driver and hurt. The cyclist takes out a civil claim against you personally. Your defence will be that you are competent in what you are doing and that you've followed a structured design process which has taken into account the things I written about (and probably a great deal more).
It's a good idea to keep records of what you've done, but even if you haven't you will be able to explain the process logically (although writing stuff down is a good idea). You will be able to show how you have mitigated the risks through good design and understanding how your design works.
I really don't think that continuous treatments are innovative, but their design does change how risks might be viewed because they are not custom and practice. The good news is that the more of them that we build, the more that the people using them will become familiar with them. The tiny risk of being sued will be even smaller.