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Sustainable Road Safety Solutions Sustainable solutions There is a range of sustainable solutions available that can promote road safety in regeneration areas. This chapter identifies the key interventions and indicates in what situations they are deemed suitable. In road safety terms a sustainable solution is one where as a result of the road layout: * Speeds are controlled appropriately without the need for enforcement. * Vehicle - pedestrian - cycle conflict is minimised. * All road users are treated with equal importance. * Accessibility is maintained or enhanced. There follows a series of design elements which could be incorporated into road design. It must be recognised that there will be essential differences between the design of road safety features on existing roads and new build roads. Good design will be built into new roads whereas there may be a need to superimpose retrospectively features on existing roads which for financial and practical reasons would not be consistent with the layout of a new build. Traffic calming measures Research has shown that human error is the largest single contributing factor in road accidents and that vehicle speed is a significant factor in about one third of accidents. Traffic calming is considered as a major element along with speed limits, education and enforcement in influencing human behaviour, vehicle speeds and the number of road accidents. photo In Europe many countries, notably Germany and The Netherlands, have invested heavily in urban traffic calming schemes over the last two decades and Britain has been able to gain valuable knowledge from these continental projects. The main objectives of traffic calming include: * improvement of street safety; * reduce road accidents; * discourage the use of unsuitable routes by heavy vehicles and through traffic; * improvement of the street environment; * improvement of conditions for vulnerable road users; * reduce noise, d