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Category Archives: Road Safety
On congestion due to school drop-offs
I found this rather interesting article about congestion at school drop-offs in the US:
Hurley, K. (September 16, 2024) “How School Drop-Off Became a Nightmare,” The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/09/school-drop-off-cars-chaos/679869/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share [Last accessed: 9/26/2024]
To quote from the article:
“Today, more parents in the United States drive kids to school than ever, making up more than 10 percent of rush-hour traffic. The result is mayhem that draws ire from many groups. For families, the long waits are at best a stressful time suck and at worst a work disruptor. Some city planners take the car line as proof of our failure to create the kind of people-centered neighborhoods families thrive in. Climate scientists might consider it a nitrogen-oxide-drenched environmental disaster. Scolds might rail at what they see as helicopter parents chaperoning their kids everywhere. Some pediatricians might point out the health threats: sedentary children breathing fumes or at risk of being hit by a car.”
The situation described in the article is actually already happening for quite a long time now in the Philippines and mostly at private schools. You have the same issues with the traffic congestion and road safety risks faced by schoolchildren in schools like Ateneo and LaSalle. The more ‘elite’ public schools like the science high schools may also have similar concerns. Can these be really addressed at the local level or is there a deeper, more complicated problem that needs to be tackled here (just to clarify that my questions are for our case here in the Philippines and not in the US)?
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Designing a “Runnable” City
I’m sure you’ve read or heard about walkable cities. But have you read or heard about “runnable” ones? Here’s a quick share of an article about cities where you can run, jog or walk.
Source: Designing a “Runnable” City
To quote from the article:
“Several urban design principles can enhance the runnability of a city:
Connectivity and accessibility: This means developing a network of interconnected running paths and trails that are easily accessed from various parts of the city (especially neighborhoods). Even better if can be green corridors that connect to other parks and open spaces, and support continuous movement.
Safety and security: Ensuring running paths are well-lit and separated from vehicle traffic is crucial. Traffic calming measures such as vehicle lane narrowing, wider footpaths, and appropriate landscaping enhance runner safety. Street trees also help reduce car speeds, as they alter our perception of how wide the road is and provide a psychological cue that we’re in a residential area. Redesigning urban infrastructure to include dedicated running paths alongside walking paths and bicycle lanes, is a great idea.
Inclusive design: City design should encourage active mobility, which means including benches, water fountains, and restrooms along running routes. It means building footpaths that enables running, and avoiding uneven, slippery or unfavorable surfaces such as cobblestones. It also means making it easy to find your way around — even in unfamiliar environments.”
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Technical sessions at the TSSP 2024 Conference
I am sharing here the latest draft of the technical sessions for the 30th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP). The conference will be held in Iloilo City this coming September 13, 2024.
I will share the draft program for the morning plenary session in the next post.
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Pedestrian-Friendly Cities: The Impact of Walkability Grants
Here is a quick share of an article on how to encourage cities to be more pedestrian-friendly:
Source: Pedestrian-Friendly Cities: The Impact of Walkability Grants
Many of our cities, particularly the highly urbanized ones, are not as walkable as we want them to be. Lacking are the most basic facilities such as sidewalks and safe crossings. Walkability Grants such as those in the US can encourage cities to build and/or enhance pedestrian infrastructure. Many designs such as those footbridges along EDSA and Commonwealth Avenue, for example, are anti-walking. Grants may be used to come up with better designs for walkways and footbridges.
To quote from the article:
“Walkability grants are awards for programs and projects creating innovative pedestrian infrastructure, such as new sidewalks, crosswalks, plazas, street lights and green spaces. For example, in February 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program, delivering $800 million in monetary awards for 511 projects addressing public safety and road improvements…
Reshaping the built environment into a walkable haven helps boost the local economy and sustainability. By changing the urban landscape, citizens are more inclined to walk instead of drive, allowing cities to reduce emissions, improve air quality and create healthier neighborhoods. This is critical, considering air pollution is responsible for 7 million early deaths yearly.”
Perhaps we can have similar grants coming from national government via the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in cooperation with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)? There was some funding for bikeways during the pandemic but this new one should put more emphasis on walkability.
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Foggy roads in Tagaytay – Part 1
It’s been a while since the last time I was in Tagaytay. We used to go there at least once a month. Eventually, we grew tired of the traffic and the city becoming quite crowded. Of course, our schedules also became more busy so the drives for a weekend getaway turned into trips for music lessons (for our daughter) and meet-ups with friends. It was a welcome return last July when I had to go to Tagaytay Highlands for a meeting and then join up with our college for a workshop on the other end of the city. Here are some photos of the foggy roads that reminded me of the Tagaytay of old.
More photos of the foggy roads in the next post!
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Back in Tagaytay
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Tagaytay. I think the last time was before the pandemic and with family. There used to be a time when we went there at least every month not counting the seminars and workshops we attended there. It was an easy drive from our home in Antipolo to Tagaytay via C6, SLEX and the Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road. We had our favorite stopovers with breakfasts usually at the Paseo de Sta. Rosa. Later, as Tagaytay became more crowded and congested, the trips became fewer. Of course, our schedules also became busier but then it wasn’t like we looked forward to the traffic and the crowded attractions there. I’m doing a project there now with my team at the office and that means I get to go there for work. Since we’ll be there anyway, we could have some side trips to eat some good meals (bulalo!) and maybe take some photos of Taal volcano.
The fog was a quick reminder of the Tagaytay of old that we frequented before. But what we noticed was that it wasn’t cool. It was still somewhat warm if there was no breeze or wind blowing. This was certainly not smog as you can smell the pollution if it was. We even joked that it probably wasn’t because of the volcano as the smell of sulphur would probably be strong. We were in Tagaytay during the weekdays so there were fewer people and traffic. We were told that it was worse on weekends. That was to be expected. And with CALAX, Tagaytay became more accessible to visitors. I will write about the developments there in the next post. I feel there’s just too many buildings and the intense development has made Tagaytay less attractive. I have similar memories and feelings about Baguio but that’s another story to tell or write about.
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Article share: Applying the New Traffic Safety Paradigm
Here is a quick share of an article on traffic safety from Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Source: Applying the New Traffic Safety Paradigm
In the article, the author discusses the use of ‘exposure’ as a measure of risk in as far as safety is concerned. The variable ‘vehicle miles traveled’ or in our case ‘vehicle kilometers traveled’ may be considered a risk factor. That is, higher or more VMT or VKT may lead to more crashes and casualties (and additionally damage to property). The objective is to reduce VMT or VKT in order to improve traffic safety.
To quote from the article:
“The new traffic safety paradigm recognizes the additional risk resulting from increases in low-risk vehicle travel and so favors strategies that reduce total vehicle-miles such as improved public transit services with free service for students, efficient school parking pricing to discourage driving, and more compact communities that reduce distances between homes and schools. In addition to reducing traffic risk these strategies also reduce household costs, traffic congestion and pollution problems making them win-win solutions. “
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SPRINT principles for bicycles
Here is the link to how to improve your city’s or municipality’s bicycle facilities based on scores guided by the SPRINT principles: https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/create-great-places
SPRINT stands for:
S -Safe Speeds
P-Protected Bike Lanes
R-Reallocated Space
I-Intersection Treatments
N-Network Connections
T-Trusted Data
The site provides links and examples of good practices of actual bike projects in the US. Many of these can be replicated or adapted to Philippine conditions. These are something that the active transport section of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) should look into and perhaps provide a reference for developing and improving bicycle facilities in the country.
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Article share: Planners’ Complicity in Excessive Traffic Deaths
Here is a recent article on safety and the involvement on traffic engineers from Todd Litman:
Source: Planners’ Complicity in Excessive Traffic Deaths
Let me note here about the interchangeability of the terms ‘traffic engineer’, ‘transportation engineer’ and ‘planner’. This is important to contextualize who is actually complicit or involved or responsible particularly in the Philippine setting. Too often and too quickly, traffic engineers or even civil engineers (in general) are blamed for traffic deaths or flaws in road designs. Disregarded is the fact that, as the article mentions, of the two major elements of travel – distance and speed – distance is often determined by the plans and designs of non-engineers. These are planners, or to be accurate land use planners, many of whom are architects by profession. We also want to differentiate between traffic engineers and highway engineers, who in the Philippine setting are actually quite different. One common thing about many of them is that they are slow to adopt progressive ideas or concepts of road planning and design such as complete streets and road diets. The outcome of this stubbornness is the specter of road crashes that lead to fatalities and serious injuries. But then they are not solely to blame or who should take responsibility for the atrocious road safety situation. The ‘distance’ component of travel is very much a product of land use planning and land development as practiced in our country. For many if not most developments, architects and planners are the ones who call the shots for the roads and transportation in the proposals. Traffic engineers are involved later and if not progressive complicates the situation regarding safety. Thankfully, some local government units are becoming progressive and are more mindful of development proposals including implications to road safety. Hopefully, many things will change among those involved so we can improve travel safety.
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On the idea of congestion pricing
I purposely titled this post to include the word ‘idea’ as congestion pricing is still very much like that in the Philippines. It is a reality in some part of the world particularly in Singapore where its Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) has evolved and improved over the years. Its success though seems to be an exceptional case that has not been replicated elsewhere where conditions are not exactly like the city state’s.
Here is an article that recently came out from The Washington Post about the New York Governor’s decision to backtrack on the proposed congestion pricing initiative in New York City:
McArdle, M. (June 12, 2024) “People hate traffic. They also hate this great idea to clear it,” The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/12/congestion-pricing-great-idea-people-hate/ [Last accessed: 6/14/2024]
To quote from the article:
“Roads are a scarce good; you can fit only so many cars on a road at one time, and fewer if you would like those cars to go somewhere. When roads are “free,” we are forced to fall back on a more costly and inefficient strategy: sitting in traffic. This wastes valuable human time and inflicts noise and pollution on everyone nearby. Far better to charge a modest price that inspires some drivers to carpool and others to take public transit or shop nearer to home, until supply and demand are balanced and traffic flows easily…
In political disputes, a discrete group facing highly concentrated costs often defeats a larger public interest that conveys a small individual benefit to everybody — such as being able to move around the city faster when you really need to. This is particularly true in the American system, which is designed to empower angry minorities. And it’s especially true when they’re abetted by status quo bias and a sympathetic majority, as in this case.
Complain all you want about selfish suburban drivers or the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s bloated cost structure or Hochul’s cowardice; the biggest obstacle to congestion pricing is that almost two-thirds of New York City residents have told pollsters they oppose it — in a city where less than half of all households even own a car. A more technocratic, less democratically responsive government might have been able to ram it through, and perhaps in time everyone would have come to like it. But in fractious America, with all its political veto points, congestion pricing is doomed by the reality that people hate slapping prices on things — especially if they have to pay them.”
There is a congestion pricing proposal in Baguio City and we don’t know yet how this will go. I don’t have the details yet except that a private company whose core business is tollways is involved. Will this be a model or a proof of concept? Or will it just go the way of a typical tollway where users are those who are willing to pay and which would eventually congest if most of the current users pay and use it anyway? Will the funds generated be used to develop a more efficient transport system for Baguio, eventually leading and contributing to less congested streets? That would also mean eventually less revenues from the congestion pricing scheme and probably lead to it being unnecessary.
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Caught (up) in traffic 