Synthèse sur la sécurité des dispositifs de contrôle de la circulation

Synthèse sur la sécurité des dispositifs de contrôle de la circulation Mars 2003
transportation engineering professionals from across Canada was assembled and
consulted. The subject matter of this Synthesis was suggested by the advisory team. The
main topics presented herein are:
• Intersection control including signalization, all-way stop control, intersection
control beacons, signal timing, and traffic signal design and operation;
• Traffic signs;
• Pavement markings;
• Pedestrian safety;
• Bicycle safety;
• Legislation and enforcement;
• Turn lanes; and
• Traffic calming.
Literature synthesized in this document was gained through the following means:
• Conventional literature searches of known databases;
• Internet search using appropriate key words; and
• Personal contact with Canadian academics and road safety practitioners.
This Synthesis attempts to provide the reader with pertinent information concerning the
parameters of the research, and the limitations of the study so that a critical appraisal is
possible. In this way the practitioner is better able to judge whether the safety impacts
identified are applicable to their particular situation. The key elements of the critical
appraisal included a review of how the sites were selected for treatment, the treatment
used¸ the study methodology employed, and the results.
In many instances the documented research relating safety to traffic operations and
control is not fully reported. That is to say, the results are available, but all of the
information necessary to critically appraise the findings is not always available. The
primary shortcoming of reported research is the lack of information on site selection
procedures. It is well known that evaluation of crash countermeasures that have been
implemented at sites selected because of a high incidence of crashes will overestimate the
countermeasure effectiveness. A failure to report the site selection process/criteria will
leave the practitioner with a deficiency in information.
It is generally accepted that the appropriate metric for road safety is motor vehicle crash
(MVC) occurrence and severity. Therefore, only research that assesses the impacts of a
particular treatment on MVC occurrence and/or severity are included in the Synthesis.
Research that used MVC surrogates are also included if the surrogate has been
demonstrated to correlate well with MVCs. This action expands the available literature
and remains true to the goal of promoting evidence-based road safety. In the end,
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