The Taipei City Government yesterday announced the establishment of the city’s first pedestrian-priority zone and second pedestrian-friendly zone.
The pedestrian-priority zone would be in Xinyi District (信義) at Alley 9, Lane 175, Jiaxing Street, the Taipei Department of Transportation told a news conference.
In the zone, pedestrians can walk anywhere on the street, while the vehicle speed limit would be 20kph and vehicles cannot honk, the department said.
Photo: screen grab from Jiaxing Borough warden Cheng Chih-yao’s Facebook page
Pedestrians would also not be liable for any accident that might occur in the zone, it added.
Entrances to the zone are marked with signs and painted pavement indicators to remind drivers, while speed bumps have been installed, department official Lin Yu-sheng (林育生) said.
Due to narrow alleys and high parking demand, it is difficult to remove roadside parking and add pedestrian crosswalks, Jiaxing Borough (嘉興) Warden Cheng Chih-yao (鄭智耀) said.
Creating a pedestrian-priority zone was a solution, and drivers have slowed down in the first week the system has been in place, Cheng said.
The second pedestrian-friendly zone has been established in Daan District’s (大安) Longquan Borough (龍泉), the department said.
The area has high pedestrian traffic as National Taiwan Normal University students often gather there, borough Warden Pang Wei-liang (?維良) said.
An area on Longquan Street from Heping Road to Lane 39, Longquan Street, as well as Lane 39 itself, have been transformed into a pedestrian-friendly zone, Pang said.
More pedestrian lanes and markings have been added to the intersection, so drivers would need to slow down and be cautious, he said.
Speed bumps have also been added to make drivers slow down, he said.
After the changes, vehicle speeds in the area fell by 25 percent, while motorcycle speeds decreased 32 percent, on-site testing showed.
Pedestrian-friendly zone policies have been discussed with officials in the city’s 12 districts, and 19 boroughs are interested in trials, Lin said.
Each borough’s pedestrian-friendly zone would be tailored to local conditions, based on road width and residential density, Lin added.
Pedestrian safety zones have also been expanded around Minquan Elementary School, the department said.
Pedestrian refuge islands and recessed crosswalks have been added to the Minquan E Road intersection and the speed limit has been reduced from 50kph to 30kph, it said.
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