Busses on Union Street

To begin my research I went on a day trip in and around Aberdeen on the bus, documenting my findings using still images and video. I started on the busiest street in Aberdeen, knowing that there are hundreds of busses driving through Union Street every day I thought it would be a good place to start.

My initial thoughts on Union Street were the sheer busyness of the street. With bus lanes most of the way down the street, busses are a very predominant figure on Street. Busses stopping, pulling out to get buy other busses, sometimes it can become very congested. Here are some images that show how busy the Street is.

The image bellow shows how busses can take up a large amount of the road. For pedestrians trying to cross the roads and for cyclists this can be very dangerous.






From these images it shows how many busses there are on the roads especially in the centre. There are lanes especially for busses on union street but as you can see from the images, they busses don’t just use bus lanes

BUS STOP!

“Parents of Robyn, 15, help launch hard-hitting campaign to warn pupils of risks.”

The parents of Robyn who was tragically killed in after stepping off a bus have released a hard hitting bus safety campaign in conjunction with Talisman Energy. The campaign BUS STOP! Has been designed to help highlight the potential risks when getting on and off school transport, and the dangers of distraction in this situation. BUS STOP will become an integral part of the campaigns approach to road safety.


http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1091886
http://www.1second1life.co.uk/

The Press and Journal – 31/12/08

“Safety calls after 19 die and 1,000 are injured in six years”

“Shocking toll of bus accidents revealed”

“Robyn Oldham, 14, died just yards from her home at Birkenhills, near Turriff, in September. She was hit by a car as she crossed the A947 Banff to Aberdeen road.”

“Just over two weeks later, 12-year-old Fraserburgh Academy pupil Alexander Milne was involved in an accident with a car after he stepped off a school bus at Lonmay.”

The statistics confirm the idea behind this project, but what is it that needs done? Does public transport need improving? Is it the bus drivers? Or could it be car drivers not paying any attention to stopped busses and the passengers in and around the busses? Or could it be people in general are just careless when using busses or crossing the roads?

There are countless theories behind the reasons for injuries and even deaths while in the vicinity of busses.

Reader’s comments on his article

‘It’s not the speed that is the problem - it's the LACK of SAFE driving by BUS DRIVERS. Walk down Union Street and see how many buses drive through amber and red lights. How many enter hatched junctions when their exit is not clear. Aberdeen needs bus drivers who drive responsibly.’

‘I used to get the Stagecoach bus into town for my daily commute and was astounded and shocked at some of the appalling driving standards by some of their drivers. One driver alone I made 3 separate complaints about as he was a danger to his passengers and other road users. I also discovered other passengers had made complaints about the same driver. I left my job in town simply because I found the travelling on buses too stressful. At times I would arrive home and at work a complete nervous wreck. Stagecoach never really investigated my complaints thoroughly and a few weeks ago I noticed the same driver travelling at his usual excessive speeds. If something serious happens with this driver, I do hope Stagecoach still have my complaints on file and a thorough investigation is made.’

‘In defence of us sensible bus drivers can I just say Wendy and John that not all of us are like that and we do sit rigorous driving exams both theory and practical and are not just handed out licences!! Our biggest problem are the companies themselves who give us such tight timetables to abide by that it nearly impossible to keep to if there’s excess traffic or problems. It's no fun dodging ignorant pedestrians and unreasonable car/white van drivers!! Have a thought for us decent ones sometimes, were not all bad!!!’

Child Safety Protection System for use with Busses

Background

For a high number of students and school children nationwide, the school day begins and ends with a trip on the bus. Unfortunately, each year many children are injured and several are killed in bus incidents. In fact, a child is three times more likely to be killed while boarding or getting off the bus than while the vehicle is moving.
In order to prevent these accidents different national safety councils encourage parents to teach their children some important rules for getting on and off the school bus. Furthermore, the government and city councils have upgraded a high number of difference roadside bus stops close to school areas, built bus shelters, covered walkways and roads improvements to increase bus safety.

Despite the above, and as recent tragedies prove, injuries and deaths still occur.

Project Aim

The aim of the project is to assist with the development of a child and general protection system for use on the busses to prevent accidents when children are getting on/off or are in the vicinity off the bus. The approach should be ‘inclusive’ in principle considering protecting the elderly, the infirmed, and those with impaired vision or hearing, whilst also helping the distracted pedestrian.

Water Filter Experiment

Water Filter

The one thing that there is far too much of in a flood is water. Water that is unsafe to drink! As in my board there is a picture of people carrying bottled water. This method of supplying bottled water to areas that have been affected by floods is very costly and uneconomical. So why can’t we use the water that we don’t want!

So from this i thought of making a basic filter to show a simple way of cleaning dirty water.

Senario Board

Scenario Two: Design for Water Adaption and Conservation. Above is a board showing some issues I feel are appropriate to this scenario.

· Contamination – the one thing that a flood provides is water, so why can’t we use this water? If there was a way to filter and clean the water, then it would provide thousands of litres of clean drinking water.

· Water Tanks – all the water tanks that i have found are all large blue tanks, not much to them at all. I did find an interesting picture of someone using a bucket hanging outside the window to fill the cistern of the toilet.

· Bottled water – this method of providing clean drinking water in a time of flooding will provide the water, but is it cost effective/economical?

· Tokyo Flood Tunnels – In Tokyo they have a high flood risk and because of that have taken a huge precaution with these flood tunnels.