Safety Theatre

No, I don't mean dramatic productions in schools to reduce risk to children , wonderful though that is !

I mean taking steps to make things look safe, but which have little or no beneficial effect in practice.

Googling "safety theatre" finds (mostly ? ) only the theatricals, but the American "safety theater" works.
The term Security Theater is wider-known, among conspiracy theorists at least.

It's questionable which things are effective and which not - the list below is neither definitive nor complete. It's part of the definition of 'Safety theatre' that we can't tell which measures are effective.

Even something that has its intended beneficial effect may also have an 'unintended consequence' : something that makes motorists safer may put cyclists at risk.
See Death on the Streets : Cars and the mythology of road safety - [Road Danger Reduction Forum].
And the effect of compulsory seatbelts.
More on seatbelts here - click on internal links to John Adams' earlier posts.
When will they stop pedalling nonsense? - [ AU Daily Telegraph, Miranda Devine Blog ]
"Modern cars have enormous side pillars, for safety reasons, which reduce visibility substantially."

Then there is 'risk compensation' - make a car safer, and some motorists will drive more dangerously.
Conversely, it has been suggested that , instead of a comfy (??) airbag in the middle of the steering-wheel, a five-inch steel spike aimed at the driver's heart would encourage cautious driving.

Centre Lines
Removing white lines can reduce speeds: TfL - [ roadsafetygb.org.uk ]
Remove the centre line to increase safety - [ CTC ]
Drivers give cyclists more space on roads without central markings, study finds - [ road.cc ]
Losing white lines from the road 'cuts speeding' because lack of markers makes drivers more cautious - [ Daily Mail Online ]
Cycle Lanes
They often put cyclists in danger - doorzone, refuges, roundbouts
There is an alarming tendency for the existence of a cycle lane to 'entitle' motorists to harrass cyclists. Even a pedestrian-only pavement will do, but a painted cycle-lane 'justifies' threats to kill.
Rod Liddle: If cyclists behaved we'd stop having a go at them - [ The Sun - Rod Liddle ]
"And there is the suspicion that some cyclists think they are above the laws of the road. All those signs and lights and stuff are just for car drivers — they can do whatever the hell they want. Like the cyclist who annoyed Jason Wells. He should have used the cycle lane but decided he didn’t want to use it."
Of course, many lanes are in the worst possible place
This issue was recognised by DfT in 2010
"this may run the risk of delegitimising the presence of cyclists on the road in the eyes of other road users"
Helmets

The helmet debate has been widely covered elsewhere.
The helmet construction standards and testing relate more to someone falling off a bike on their own, rather than being hit by a motorist, or even crashing at full speed.
Where helmet use has been made compulsory, fewer cyclists are killed or seriously injured, but only because there are fewer cyclists!
There is a theory (with some supporting evidence) that drivers pass closer to helmet-wearing cyclists - and cyclists take more risks.
Or they disproportionately discourage the safest cyclists
Even an e-petition to the government was turned down.

Row breaks out on Twitter after police 'blame' injured cyclist for #NoHelmet - [ Hackney Citizen ]
Hackney police to introduce safe cycling schemes following #nohelmet-gate - [ Hackney Gazette ]
Pushmi-Pullyu Health Promotion - [ Kennington People on Bikes ]
Do Helmets Actually Make Cyclists Less Safe? - [ Bikesy ]
Brain injury mum's plea over cyclists - [ Glasgow Evening Times ]
Joel Cooney on Twitter: "Woman falls from window *whilst sleepwalking* - urges cycle helmets"
Rumble strips
There have been a few cases lately that mention rumble strips
R v Robert Palmer - lorry driver believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel
R v Wojcicki - minibus driver believed to be using phone camera - cyclist riding on 'hard shoulder'
"minibus was drifting from the lane to the rumble strip back and forth"
ie relying on sound : not looking at the road ?
Maybe there should be a 'quicksand lane' instead of rumble strips, like the deep gravel traps (arrester beds) on steep hills for lorries whose brakes fail - something that stops you until a police tow-truck can extract you.
Radar Tags for lorry drivers
an interesting discussion with two manufacturers
Pedestrian refuges
encourage close overtaking
do they even help pedestrians?
Roadside fencing or Guard Railing
vision
crushed filtering cyclists
now being phased-out throughout London
Safety Cameras
The 'Safe Speed' website was dedicated to arguing that 'Safety Cameras' are ineffective and speeding is OK.
20mph Speed Limits
means children play in the streets - 'our streets for driving naturally fast in'
"Who in their right mind would centre their safety policy on “hitting people at slower speeds kills fewer of them”? I have seen numerous examples of this type of mantra and they are all repugnant." Errr, what ?
"So why did these schemes fail? Vulnerable road users are encouraged to feel safer – a natural instinct when traffic is slower." Terrible ! We should drive at them really fast, to scare them off the roads.</sarcasm>

Variation? The user in any system... - [ NoSurprise ]

you can feel your brain switching off from monitoring the road so much, as 'nothings happening'. It then 'looks around' for something interesting. I know, I'll just check my phone ...

Fake humps
Skid-pan training
and in Norway
Stopping at Red Lights ?
Women cyclists are more likely to be killed in traffic: TfL suppresses report - [ RUDI - Resource for Urban Development International ]
This has also been suggested by Dutch Police
ASL (Advanced Stop Lines)
The road to Hell is paved with ASLs - [ The Alternative Department for Transport ]
Tipping Out The Paint - [ Beyond the Kerb ]
A broken law is no law at all - [ WillCycle ]
High-Viz - fluorescent and/or reflective clothing

Black can be highly visible, but they have to be looking
Some doubt its effectiveness ...
High vis clothing doesn't make cars pass you more safely, says new study - [ road.cc ]
Don't Try This Away From Home - [ Time Smart Cycling ]
Hi-viz for cyclists and pedestrians: the evidence and context - [ Road Danger Reduction Forum ]
A very strange survey - Third of cyclists support mandatory hi-viz clothing claims survey - [ road.cc ]
Maybe silver/grey is not ideal, though: (actually it's carbon fibre black, but viewed at a shallow angle)
Pedestrian Refuges
Traffic Calming - Pedestrian Refuges - [ Motorism - a failure of democracy ! ]
Safety Campaigns
Cycle safety campaigns: do they do more harm than good? - [ Telegraph Blogs ]
Cars as Safety Aids!
Taking responsibility for social safety - [ As Easy As Riding A Bike ]
20 mph Limits
It may be a deliberate, intentional, malicious response on the part of motorists,
but some early studies have failed to show casualty reduction following reducing speed limits
Interim Evaluation of the Implementationof 20 mph Speed Limits in Portsmouth
20mph response - [ ABD ]

"Low speed impacts can cause a cyclist/pedestrian to go under the vehicle as opposed to being pushed aside as is if a higher speed." - Jan Piechocki

Hooting
Germany had a campaign ~1981 "Bremsen - nicht huepfen!" : "Brake - don't hoot!"
Harold Hales, MP, 1935 "What is the horn to-day? It is a licence to kill. 'Did you sound your horn? No?' Then the prosecution wins every time. If you did sound your horn you are free and the horn has killed the pedestrian, who is startled at the sudden noise and dashes into danger."
Babel bike - the future of cycling ?
Is this how we market cycling to the fearful ?