Traffic calming: principles and applications

The current (1994) thinking is that roads in cities should be designed such that vehicles are not able to operate at maximum speeds greater than 40-50 kph. This makes traffic more with less acceleration and deceleration, while average speeds remain around 1 5-20 kph. This is called “traffic calming”. Experience shows that when traffic calming principles are used in road design, accidents and pollution reduce and neighbourhoods become more livable. In this booklet we are introducing some of these concepts. These have to be experimented with and new concepts evolved from experience in Indian roads. After some experience with these experiments we would be in a position to come up with a handbook on traffic calming principles for India.