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Some details about the _how_ from an Economist article (http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-16 http://www.economist.com

Some details about the _how_ from an Economist article (http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/economist-explains-16 http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/02/ec...): Planning has played the biggest part in reducing accidents. Roads in Sweden are built to prioritise safety over speed or convenience. Low urban speed limits, pedestrian zones and barriers that separate cars from bicycles and oncoming traffic have helped. Building 1,500km (900 miles) of “2+1” roads—where each lane of traffic takes turns to use a middle lane for overtaking—is reckoned to have saved around 145 lives over the first decade of Vision Zero. And 12,600 safer crossings, including pedestrian bridges and zebra stripes flanked by flashing lights and protected with speed bumps, are estimated to have halved the number of pedestrian deaths over the past five years. Strict policing has also helped: less than 0.25% of drivers tested are over the alcohol limit. Road deaths of children under seven have plummeted—in 2012 only one was killed, compared with 58 in 1970.

UweSchmidt 10y ago
I always found those 2+1 roads stressful, as it required unpleasant delays behind very slow vehicles and puts a limit on how many cars can overtake before the other side gets the middle lane. Is this the price for saving lives, or do I misunderstand anything? Does the 2+1 road replace 1+1 roads (which is probably a lot more dangerous)?
- RyanZAG 10y ago
  In Cairo, most of the roads during rush hour are so packed with cars that you can't drive faster than 5km/hour. Those packed roads with slowly moving cars have the lowest accident rate in the country. So yes, you can definitely reduce accidents by forcing everyone into high traffic situations where they have no choice but to drive extremely slowly. In IT security, you can also reduce hacked computers by making so many security regulations that nobody can actually use the computers. It does work, but nobody really gets their job done. Or at least, in the case of the state department, it works until your secretary of state moves all of her email onto her own server to avoid your regulations and you end up with a political firestorm. At some point you probably want to try find solutions that optimize safety and actually getting something done at the same time. Creating traffic isn't a very good solution in the long run, I think.
  - majewsky 10y ago
    > Those packed roads with slowly moving cars have the lowest accident rate in the country. Well, they have about the same accident rate as walking, and walking is even faster! > In IT security, you can also reduce hacked computers by making so many security regulations that nobody can actually use the computers. It does work, but nobody really gets their job done. On the contrary, imposing ridiculous restrictions will cause users to become very creative in bypassing them, thus negating any positive effect they might have.
    - RyanZAG 10y ago
      Right, that was my point in the following two lines.
- geon 10y ago
  The 2+1 roads mostly used to be 1+1 with no middle barrier, I believe. If you wanted to overtake a slower car, you had to time it well so you could use the opposite lane while it was (hopefully) empty of oncoming traffic. Or you'd hope the car in front, and the oncoming one were polite enough to move over to the curb. Some more winding roads had bad visibility, so you could never pass safely. I take the 2+1 any day. The newer 2+1 roads have cable barriers in the middle, so even a drunk or sleeping oncoming driver won't kill you. They just total their own car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_barrier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_barrier Source: Being Swedish.
  - kpil 10y ago
    The barriers slice motorcyclists though...
- alkonaut 10y ago
  Yes. It's a cheap upgrade using the existing width of a wide (43ft/13m and up) 1+1 road with wide shoulder and wide lanes to make a 2+1 with narrow shoulder and a wire barrier on the same width. Sweden was just lucky to have built such wide 1+1 roads as the norm, so a large part of the major highways were (realatively) easily and cheaply convertible. The safety difference from 1+1 is huge, and the cost of conversion is negligible compared to a rebuild into a real 2+2 road.
jessriedel 10y ago
To clarify, the "2+1" roads have a middle lane that alternates directions every few kilometers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road This is distinct from the sorts of 3-lane roads (more common in Europe than the US) where the central lane is designated simultaneously for passing in either direction. (Which conversely seems really dangerous.) Note also that rural road costs about $1M/lane-mile in the US (double in urban areas) so 900 miles of 3-lane road is probably at least $2B. If the road lasted a decade, it would make the cost-per-life-saved on the high side of US value of life guidelines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life#Life_Value_in_the_US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life#Life_Value_in_th...
- lorenzhs 10y ago
  Never seen a three-lane road with shared overtaking lane here in Germany. Those seem positively dangerous. 2+1 is fairly common on Bundesstraßen, though. They typically don't have a divider but the signage makes it very clear who can use it.
  - jessriedel 10y ago
    According to this random internet discussion, suicide lanes were mostly to be found in Italy, France, and Belgium, but are on their way out. http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6773.25 http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6773.25
  - majewsky 10y ago
    Is this a regional thing? I've never seen them where I live (in Saxony). It should be noted though that I don't have a driver's license, so I'm probably not watching road types as attentively as a driver.
- douche 10y ago
  In the US, I've never seen a two-way passing middle lane, only three lane roads where the middle lane is designated for making left-hand turns for either lane. Usually these are in the "strip" regions in towns, where there are strip malls and big-box stores lining both sides of the road.
The_ed17 10y ago
Thanks for this! Was just coming here to comment that the article included nothing on how it was done.
newscracker 10y ago
Thanks. The link you provided has more details. I came here just to say there was hardly any "how" in the article ((of this post), despite the title claiming "How Sweden Has Redesigned...". The hows in the article are common in many places - like low speed limits and more cameras.

UweSchmidt 10y ago

I always found those 2+1 roads stressful, as it required unpleasant delays behind very slow vehicles and puts a limit on how many cars can overtake before the other side gets the middle lane. Is this the price for saving lives, or do I misunderstand anything? Does the 2+1 road replace 1+1 roads (which is probably a lot more dangerous)?

RyanZAG 10y ago
In Cairo, most of the roads during rush hour are so packed with cars that you can't drive faster than 5km/hour. Those packed roads with slowly moving cars have the lowest accident rate in the country. So yes, you can definitely reduce accidents by forcing everyone into high traffic situations where they have no choice but to drive extremely slowly. In IT security, you can also reduce hacked computers by making so many security regulations that nobody can actually use the computers. It does work, but nobody really gets their job done. Or at least, in the case of the state department, it works until your secretary of state moves all of her email onto her own server to avoid your regulations and you end up with a political firestorm. At some point you probably want to try find solutions that optimize safety and actually getting something done at the same time. Creating traffic isn't a very good solution in the long run, I think.
- majewsky 10y ago
  > Those packed roads with slowly moving cars have the lowest accident rate in the country. Well, they have about the same accident rate as walking, and walking is even faster! > In IT security, you can also reduce hacked computers by making so many security regulations that nobody can actually use the computers. It does work, but nobody really gets their job done. On the contrary, imposing ridiculous restrictions will cause users to become very creative in bypassing them, thus negating any positive effect they might have.
  - RyanZAG 10y ago
    Right, that was my point in the following two lines.
geon 10y ago
The 2+1 roads mostly used to be 1+1 with no middle barrier, I believe. If you wanted to overtake a slower car, you had to time it well so you could use the opposite lane while it was (hopefully) empty of oncoming traffic. Or you'd hope the car in front, and the oncoming one were polite enough to move over to the curb. Some more winding roads had bad visibility, so you could never pass safely. I take the 2+1 any day. The newer 2+1 roads have cable barriers in the middle, so even a drunk or sleeping oncoming driver won't kill you. They just total their own car. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_barrier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_barrier Source: Being Swedish.
- kpil 10y ago
  The barriers slice motorcyclists though...
alkonaut 10y ago
Yes. It's a cheap upgrade using the existing width of a wide (43ft/13m and up) 1+1 road with wide shoulder and wide lanes to make a 2+1 with narrow shoulder and a wire barrier on the same width. Sweden was just lucky to have built such wide 1+1 roads as the norm, so a large part of the major highways were (realatively) easily and cheaply convertible. The safety difference from 1+1 is huge, and the cost of conversion is negligible compared to a rebuild into a real 2+2 road.

jessriedel 10y ago

To clarify, the "2+1" roads have a middle lane that alternates directions every few kilometers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2%2B1_road This is distinct from the sorts of 3-lane roads (more common in Europe than the US) where the central lane is designated simultaneously for passing in either direction. (Which conversely seems really dangerous.) Note also that rural road costs about $1M/lane-mile in the US (double in urban areas) so 900 miles of 3-lane road is probably at least $2B. If the road lasted a decade, it would make the cost-per-life-saved on the high side of US value of life guidelines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life#Life_Value_in_the_US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_of_life#Life_Value_in_th...

lorenzhs 10y ago
Never seen a three-lane road with shared overtaking lane here in Germany. Those seem positively dangerous. 2+1 is fairly common on Bundesstraßen, though. They typically don't have a divider but the signage makes it very clear who can use it.
- jessriedel 10y ago
  According to this random internet discussion, suicide lanes were mostly to be found in Italy, France, and Belgium, but are on their way out. http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6773.25 http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=6773.25
- majewsky 10y ago
  Is this a regional thing? I've never seen them where I live (in Saxony). It should be noted though that I don't have a driver's license, so I'm probably not watching road types as attentively as a driver.
douche 10y ago
In the US, I've never seen a two-way passing middle lane, only three lane roads where the middle lane is designated for making left-hand turns for either lane. Usually these are in the "strip" regions in towns, where there are strip malls and big-box stores lining both sides of the road.

The_ed17 10y ago

Thanks for this! Was just coming here to comment that the article included nothing on how it was done.

newscracker 10y ago

Thanks. The link you provided has more details. I came here just to say there was hardly any "how" in the article ((of this post), despite the title claiming "How Sweden Has Redesigned...". The hows in the article are common in many places - like low speed limits and more cameras.