Traffic calming uses physical design and other measures to improve safety for motorists, car drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. It has become a tool to combat speeding and other unsafe behaviours of drivers in the neighbourhoods. It aims to encourage safer, more responsible driving and potentially reduce traffic flow. Urban planners and traffic engineers have many strategies for traffic calming, including narrowed roads and speed humps. Such measures are common in Australia and Europe, but less so in North America. Traffic calming is a calque of the German word Verkehrsberuhigung – the term's first published use in English was in 1985 by Carmen Hass-Klau.
Two traffic calming measures on a road in England: speed cushions (the two reddish pads in the road) and a curb extension (marked by the black posts and white stripes)
Signing indicating that a motorist is approaching traffic calming devices
Traffic calming roundabout and rainwater-harvesting infrastructure in Tucson, Arizona
Construction of polymer cement overlay to change asphalt to brick texture and colour to indicate a high-traffic pedestrian crossing
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. Pedestrians may also be wheelchair users or other disabled people who use mobility aids.
Pedestrians on a crosswalk in Buenos Aires
A sign in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, directing pedestrians to an overpass for safe crossing.
Pedestrian signal in Santa Ana, California.
The pedestrian Bauman Street in Kazan, Russia.
