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Our monthly science question : Can flowerbeds on median strips save lives?

May 5, 2025

( Update : May 13, 2025 )

Redefining road safety

In the collective imagination, the notion of road safety generally conjures up images of red lights and crosswalks—less often how roads and intersections are configured. Yet these features play a major role in the safety of all road users.

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So, what is an ideal configuration? In an urban environment, a good configuration encourages drivers to become aware of their surroundings and naturally reduce their speed, for healthy sharing of the road. Options include widening sidewalks, increasing crossing times, building a pedestrian walkway or tunnel, narrowing traffic lanes to add a bike path—or even planting flowers on median strips! These urban solutions not only improve road safety, but also enhance quality of life in neighbourhoods.

Conversely, poor road layout has a direct impact on the sense of safety, particularly for people with reduced mobility or disabilities, and for families with young children. Non-existent sidewalks, blocked streets, and forced proximity between vehicles and pedestrians are all factors that have risks and give rise to insecurities.

All these issues fuel the research of Professor Marie-Soleil Cloutier, director of the Centre Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre and the Laboratoire piétons et espace urbain at INRS. Professor Cloutier, a geographer and road safety specialist, focuses on how pedestrians share space with other road users, the perceived safety of vulnerable individuals, and walkability—that is, how well an urban environment supports easy and safe walking for everyone.

Research has proven the effectiveness of road (re)design in improving walkability and reducing the risk of injury. Professor Cloutier notes, however, that there is a lack of awareness of best practices in the field today, even among some professionals. That’s why, at Institut national de la recherche scientifique, student members of the urban studies program become true agents of change once they have completed their training.

Combatting preconceived notions: “Doing it right” doesn’t mean “expensive” Professor Cloutier points out that safety improvements don’t necessarily cost taxpayers a lot of money, provided that public authorities seize every opportunity to do things better. For example, if a municipality needs to carry out drainage work, it could take the opportunity to redevelop lanes previously dedicated to cars, rather than simply rebuilding what was there before. In this way, road safety and active transportation will become an integral, everyday part of urban life.

These images are generated by artificial intelligence for illustrative purposes only. They do not accurately represent experiments, laboratory procedures or practices. Their sole purpose is to facilitate the popularization of science.

Read more:

Public transit: focus on the quality of the pedestrian network
Public transit: focus on the quality of the pedestrian network
Road accidents: what about those who work on the road?
Road accidents: what about those who work on the road?
Marie-Soleil Cloutier
Marie-Soleil Cloutier

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