The Victorian Government aims to provide safer travel for pedestrians and to increase the number of people walking through improved management of the road space and the provision of more off-road paths and access.

VicRoads has an active program of initiatives designed to increase safety for pedestrians while improving access. These initiatives include development of shopping strip and school zone speed limits, and the construction of pedestrian facilities such as road crossings, kerb extensions and public lighting.

Priority actions for pedestrians

Linking Melbourne: Metropolitan Transport Plan, describes the priority actions for pedestrians. These are:

• Introduce more appropriate speed limits in shopping strips
• Encourage through-traffic to avoid shopping strips and to use alternative routes where feasible
• Improve the amenity of areas of intense pedestrian activity alongside arterial roads
• Improve pedestrian safety near schools located on arterial roads through a State-wide program of school speed limits
• Improve safety and provide more equitable access for pedestrians in high-use areas such as Transit Cities and multi-modal facilities via the Walk Safe Program and other innovative and cost-effective measures
• Establish a program to provide greater priority for pedestrian access across busy arterial roads that sever community activities

Facilities for pedestrians

Pedestrian facilities are provided in different forms to manage the interaction between vehicular traffic and pedestrians. These facilities divide into three categories:

• Segregation - where there is a spatial separation of vehicular traffic and pedestrians, e.g. pedestrian malls, pedestrian overpasses or underpasses.
• Integration - where both pedestrians and vehicular traffic mix, but pedestrians are given priority, e.g. shared zones.
• Separation - where there is a time separation between when vehicular traffic and pedestrians for use of the same road space eg: pedestrian operated signals.

Examples of pedestrian facilities include:

• Kerb extensions
• Pedestrian refuges
• Children’s crossings (flagged school crossings)
• Pedestrian crossings (zebra crossings)
• Pedestrian crossings (without flashing lights)
• Pedestrian operated signals
• Pelican crossings
• Puffin crossings
• Pedestrian facilities integrated with intersection signals
• Provision for pedestrians at roundabouts
• Pedestrian fencing (to maintain separation between pedestrians on footpaths and the roadway)
• Improved public lighting
• Lowering traffic speeds