Recent research has found that narrow roads lead to safer streets.
The research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that roads which have 10 to 12 foot lanes with a 30 to 35 MPH speed limit see significantly more accidents than roads with nine foot lanes.
The researchers theorized that the reason for this is because in streets with wider lanes, drivers have additional space in their travel lanes and less risk or punishment exists for errors in driving, which leads to drivers driving faster in wide lanes. In other words, a narrow lane may be an ideal form of traffic calming which leads to slow cars and safer roads.
The Benefits of Narrow Lanes
The researchers found that lowering lane width can:
- Improve overall safety
- Optimize bike lanes and sidewalks
- Help aid the environment
- Boost our economy
The researchers determined that narrower lanes “could actually contribute to improvements in safety.”
The researchers noted that despite traffic volume decreasing during the COVID-19 pandemic, cyclist and pedestrian fatality rates still increased. The researchers stated that the biggest factor which can be blamed for the high fatality rates is a lack of sidewalk and dedicated bike lane infrastructure. The researchers stated that one of the most cost-efficient and easy ways to provide space for pedestrians and cyclists is to reduce lane widths and parking lane widths.
The researchers stated that by using narrower streets in street design, environmental issues could be addressed by allowing for additional users in less space, utilizing a lower amount of asphalt pavement, consuming less land, and smaller impervious surface areas, allowing for lesser effects of cities’ urban heat islands.
The researchers stated that not only could narrower lanes improve traffic safety, but they could also boost the economy by raising the values of property, increasing business operation and developing design projects.
Larger Lanes Lead to Accidents
Current street practice design is starting with 11 foot or 12 foot lane width, then having traffic engineers justify when lanes should be narrowed. However, the researchers discovered that when traffic lanes are increased in width from nine feet to 12 feet, approximately 1.5 times as many crashes occurred. While the crash rates didn’t increase on roads with 20 to 25 mph speed limits, they increased significantly on roads with 30 to 35 mph speed limits.
60 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2020 happened on non-interstate arterial highways. These highways often feature 12-foot lanes or wider, and were the sites of 70 percent of walking deaths in urban areas in 2020, even though they only make up 15 percent of United States roadways.
U.S. Traffic Fatalities Vs. The World
A study was conducted by the CDC which compared road safety in the United States as well as other high-income countries in the years 2015 and 2019. The study discovered that the United States, in 2019, experienced:
- A higher number of traffic fatalities than any of the other countries
- The highest rate of traffic fatalities per 100,000 population of any of the countries
- The fourth highest traffic fatality rate per 10,000 registered vehicles of any of the countries
- The sixth highest traffic fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of any of the countries
The study also found that, while 15 of the other countries saw decreases in traffic fatalities from 2015 to 2019, traffic fatalities increased by 2.5 percent during those years in the United States.
In addition, a UNECE report found that in 2019, the United States had the fifth highest number of traffic fatalities per million inhabitants of any country in North America or Europe.
Lane size could be a contributing factor to our high fatality rate in the United States. In Europe, for example, their lane sizes skew narrower than in the United States, and they have less accidents and fatalities on the road.
The Current State of Pedestrian Fatalities
GHSA projected that at least 7,508 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in 2022, which would reflect the highest number of pedestrian fatalities since 1981. They found that pedestrian fatality rates increased by 19 percent from 2019 to 2022, and that from 2010 to 2021, while the rate of all other traffic fatalities increased by 25 percent, the rate of pedestrian fatalities increased by 77 percent.
Prioritizing Safety on the Road
Prioritizing safety on the road isn’t just about narrowing lanes, although that is a helpful contributing step.
To help prevent accidents, we can also:
Lower Speed Limits
This is only helpful if it is properly enforced. When roads have a mix of different vehicle speeds, the rate of accidents can be increased.
Installing Speeding and Red Light Cameras
These devices can help to reduce speed limits.
Implementing Sharp Corners
Implementing sharp corners rather than round curves at roads’ ends can force drivers to slow before turning, preventing speeding in the process.
How Public Officials Can Make a Change
The researchers in the Johns Hopkins study provided policy recommendations which stemmed from the findings of the study.
The researchers recommended narrowing of lanes on streets with 11, 12 or 13 foot lane widths in urban streets with 20 to 25 mph and 30 to 35 mph speed limits which are not freight or transit corridors. The researchers recommended prioritizing roads which meet the above criteria and have lower volume of traffic, little to no on-street parking, low street curvature degrees, less lanes, and a lack of raised medians.
The researchers stated that narrowing these lanes can:
- Accommodate better bike lane and sidewalk facilities
- Improve road safety for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers
- Increase roadway capacity
- Promote walkability
- Promote inclusive street use by all modes of travel
- Minimize maintenance and construction costs
- Address environmental issues
While they recommended reducing the width of some lanes to nine feet, they did not recommend reducing the width of all lanes to nine feet. They noted that freight transportation is a key consideration in terms of deciding lane width, stating that even 10 foot lanes may be too narrow for streets with heavy movement of freight/delivery vehicles, stating that 11 foot wide lanes may be more appropriate for these roads.
The researchers also noted that lane widths of 11 feet may be more appropriate for roads which are major bus corridors, noting that lanes narrower than 10 feet have been associated with a higher rate of bus crashes.
The researchers recommended that lane widths not be reduced below 10 feet on roads with 20 to 25 mph speed limits, and should not be reduced below 11 feet on roads with 30 to 35 mph speed limits which experience heavily snowing, harsh winters.
Have You Been Injured in an Accident?
If you’ve been injured in an accident, whether it was on a road with narrow or wide lanes, we can help you recover financial compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, pain, suffering and more.
We have been helping those injured in accidents for over 30 years and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for those injured in accidents.
We don’t charge injured accident victims any fee until and unless we recover financial compensation for them – our only fee is a percentage of any recovery obtained.
We help injured accident victims who can’t afford medical treatment get to doctors who won’t charge them until their case is over.
Contact us today for a free consultation if you or a loved one was injured or killed in an accident.
Jeffrey Nadrich
Jeffrey Nadrich is a nationally-recognized California plaintiff’s personal injury attorney. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of the Law. He has successfully represented thousands of injury clients over the last 40 years.
