Study on the Planning of Student Pedestrians’ Walking Conditions in Taipei: the Case of Beitou Elementary School

• Main Authors: Hung, Yu-hui, 洪玉蕙
• Other Authors: Wang, Shih-yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/88898887123358463823

碩士 === 國立臺北大學 === 都市計劃研究所 === 93 === Children are more vulnerable than adults to collisions with motor vehicles, because their special limitations. And there is a relatively high proportion of collisions to children occurring on journey to/from school. Research has shown that developing safe walking conditions to school is good for not only decreasing the number of traffic accident with children, but also increasing children’s ability to face complex traffic situations. Therefore, the objective of this paper is reviewing on the present policy of “students’ walking lane” in Taipei, and giving some suggestions for developing a planning system to developing student pedestrians’ safe walking conditions. Comparing “students’ walking lane” with ordinary students’ walking conditions, we argue that the “students’ walking lane” is not effective in protecting student pedestrians from motor vehicles. Because all of the students surveyed must walk on dangerous streets, no matter enforcing “students’ walking lane” or not. The reason why the present policy can’t work is that the present planning system can’t supply enough walking space to the demand at once. On the other hand, through surveying the stakeholders’ demand for students’ walking conditions, we can find another reason, which is that some of them don’t agree they have responsibility for preserving students’ road safety. These two reasons not only result in the present policy ineffective to provide road safety, but also point to the disadvantage of the present planning system in Taipei, which is that the planning system is vehicle-oriented and without citizens’ participation. Hence, three suggestions by three different planning scales can be offered: 1. In city scale, we suggest that the planning system and relative rules should provide pedestrians with the rights to walk safely and comfortably, and guarantee student pedestrians against the threat from motor vehicles. 2. In community scale, we suggest that the planning system should focus on improving the walking conditions in the school zone, applying the planning method, which is fit for local traffic characteristics and students’ demand. 3. In school scale, we suggest that the school should establish “Safety Advisory Committee” which includes different stakeholders.