BACCALAUREAT PROFESSIONNEL: ANGLAIS 2008

L'utilisation du dictionnaire bilingue est autorisée. mardi 24 juin 08

AND THE BEST SOLUTION FOR PROTECTING PEDESTRIANS? REMOVE SAFETY BARRIERS.

They clutter (*) the streets, get in the way when you want to cross the road and, according to a study, increase your chances of being run over. Railings are supposed to protect pedestrians from cars but they are said to encourage a false sense of security that leads to more people being killed or injured. An experiment in Kensington High Street found that the number of casualties (*) fell sharply when railings were removed. Kensington and Chelsea removed 600 metres of railings and found that, after two years, pedestrain casualties had declined three times faster than the London average.
In its £4.5 million redesign of the street, Kensington adopted the principle of "shared space". Pioneered in the Netherlands, it rejects the concept that pedestrians and traffic must be strictly segregated. The idea is that cars, cyclists and those on foot will coexist more safely. Drivers now realize there is always a risk of someone stepping off (*) the pavement, and so tend to slow down. Pedestrians cease to rely on railings to keep them safe and become more aware of traffic.
Ben Hamilton-Baillie, a street-design consultant advising Kensington, said: "Railings encouraged people to climb over them to cross the road. They also forced people to gather at narrow crossing-points, increasing the risk of someone being pushed out into the traffic."
Graeme Swinburne, Kensington's director of transport, said that visibility had been improved for drivers and pedestrians by the removal of railings, street signs and posts.
Traffic lights have been attached to lampposts, removing the need for an extra post. The number of signs has been rigorously reviewed, with hundreds taken away or made smaller. "Drivers can be distracted if there are too many signs. The less information, the better the eye contact."