Better urban design can reduce traffic fatalities among drivers and pedestrians in Thailand, road safety experts say.

Better infrastructure and connectivity are as essential as bringing down speed limits, said Ben Welle, senior associate of health and road safety at the World Resources Institute (WRI), yesterday.

WRI's report on traffic safety titled "Cities safer by design", launched yesterday in Bangkok, recommended design elements proven to improve traffic safety.

Urban design centred around walking and mass transportation will reduce the need to drive cars. With fewer vehicles on the roads, the risk to pedestrians will fall, he argued.

"Bangkok has a high number of roads, but they are not always connected, making it difficult to walk from one place to another in a direct way," Mr Welle said.

Neighbourhoods should be planned in an integrated way, he added, with destinations such as schools, grocery stores and public transport within walking distance.

Other measures include traffic-calming and speed-reducing measures, as well as the creation of pedestrian-only areas and improving walkways.

Claudia Adriazola-Steil, WRI director of health and road safety, added mass public transportation should be prioritised by policy-makers and city planners.

"People are cities' most important element -- not cars. Therefore, we need to start planning for the people," she said.

Planners shouldn't only focus on improving mobility for the sake of mobility, she said, but rather look at how they can provide access to schools and employment opportunities.

Skye Duncan, director of the Global Designing Cities Initiative, said she spent nearly three hours in traffic upon her arrival in Bangkok on Sunday.

"What struck me was the fact that public buses were stuck in the same traffic as individual vehicles," she said. They should have their own lanes.

"People will never be compelled to take public transportation if city planners don't prioritise it."

According to City Hall, there are 10 million people in the capital and 8.5 million private cars and three million motorcycles registered. Last year, there were 23,000 accidents with 7,000 injuries and 200 deaths reported in Bangkok.

Source:
courtesy of BANGKOK POST

by Ariane Kupferman-Sutthavong

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