Optimising traffic signal timings doesn’t just improve travel times for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, it also improves safety.
In a study of 875 intersections, Roshandeh et al. 2016 found that, after signal optimisation, fatal and serious injury crashes reduced by 63% for rear-end crashes, 18% for crashes involving pedestrians, 7% for cross traffic and turn against, 5% for head-on crashes and 2% for sideswipe crashes.
Signal optimisation reduces the likelihood of a crash, but we still need to address the severity of the crash to within Safe System thresholds.
Images: Scott Sanner, RMS and Safe System Solutions Pty Ltd
