Traffic planning for the protection of vulnerable groups of persons exemplified by the City of Munich

Abstract

Pedestrian and bicycle traffic make asignificant contribution to the traffic turnaround. Measures to improve the road safety of pedestrians and cyclists are insofar an important building block to asuccessful sustainable city and traffic planning. The mobility strategy 2035 of the City of Munich includes partial strategies for walking and cycling as well as for road safety, which was confirmed through former city council resolutions on Vision Zero. The most important measures for the comfort and safety of pedestrians are aspeed limit of 30 km/h, wide and free sidewalks (without obstacles) and crossing assistance with good visibility conditions. Depending on the local situation, sidewalk extensions, road islands, pedestrian crossings (zebra crossings) and traffic lights with attractive circuit conditions for pedestrians make crossing easier. The comfort and safety of cyclists can be improved with broad cycling paths along the main streets. They should allow the overtaking of cyclists in both directions. At least on side streets, acomprehensive speed limit of 30 km/h is an important issue. One-way streets should be open for oncoming cyclists against the one-way direction. At road crossings and road junctions the visibility of cyclists should be improved with road markings and widened bike lanes and there should be aconflict-free circuit of traffic lights, especially where there is ahigh percentage of commercial vehicles.