Chapter II: The theoretical basis

Pedestrians and vehicles

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Pedestrians and vehicles. There are three main groups of people whose environment needs to be protected by these standards:

1. People within buildings.
2. People outside buildings (people sitting about, children at play, etc.).
3. Pedestrians, either ambling about for a great variety of purposes, or acting in their role as part of the transport system.

Clearly it is the people in the second and third groups, but particularly the pedestrians, who are most immediately in contact and at risk with vehicles. The standards which directly influence the relationship between pedestrians and motor vehicles may therefore be claimed to deserve the most weight.

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It is tempting to say that the objective should be the complete separation of pedestrians and vehicles in all circumstances. In one sense such a standpoint would simplify matters considerably. When applied to London's Bond Street, for example, which obviously is a shopping street where environmental needs ought to come before everything else, it would follow that the street should be closed to vehicular traffic and pedestrians be given the free run of it. This approach would offer a clear-cut decision, a firm position from which to work outwards, and it would be perfectly clear that some alternative route for the vehicles would have to be found, no matter how complicated or expensive. But there are difficulties about laying down complete separation as the desirable standard, the principal of which is that there does not seem to be the slightest chance of ever achieving it universally, nor is it obvious that it would be worth pursuing it universally. The fact seems to be that, up to a point, a mixture of pedestrians and vehicles is not seriously harmful. A visitor to America, for example, whatever he may feel about visual intrusion, cannot fail to be impressed by the way many residential areas (admittedly of low density) function reasonably satisfactorily without any special provision for pedestrians. That this is possible is largely a result of the mature standards of driving which have been achieved.

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Nevertheless, as far as shopping and business areas are concerned, there is a growing volume of evidence from all over the world of the advantages of these activities being undertaken in a completely traffic-free atmosphere.