By Eric Murphy
Including road users in a participatory “co-design” process can result in better safety interventions than those made by professional engineers alone, according to a new study. Participatory design incorporates the needs and views of end-users of what’s being designed—in this case, pedestrian crossings used by workers and students.
The new study, from Travel Behaviour and Society, asked local transportation professionals to suggest safety interventions at four highway sites in Bangladesh. Those were contrasted with the results of four design workshops involving workers and students who crossed roads at those sites, after they had participated in focus group sessions. Experts assessed the safety and usability of each of the suggestions from both groups.
“The findings highlight major usability problems in conventional designs, while co-designed interventions demonstrate clear improvements,” says the study. “Co-design interventions outperformed the engineers’ interventions across all four research sites.” The researchers add that incorporating a behavioral change model into the process improved interventions even further.
Stakeholders from highway department representatives to activists all agreed that including users of the roadway in the design process not only boosts safety but also fosters a sense of shared responsibility. “Involving users eliminates blaming as they would willingly follow the design,” said one representative from a local highway department. A representative from the garment industry said that user participation in design would also lead more people to use the crossings.
While some of the user designs were rated less feasible than those of the engineers, many were rated equally or more feasible. All stakeholders agreed the co-design process was “a practical approach to achieving safe infrastructure.”
Researchers recommend participatory “co-design” processes include vulnerable road users, especially those with disabilities and members of marginalized groups, as well as “local officials, traffic police, urban planners, road safety experts, [and] community leaders.” They also recommend revisions to road safety curricula at educational institutions to better understand the specific needs and challenges each group faces.