Centreline Removal Study
Work is being undertaken by the University of the West of England to trial the removal of carriageway centrelines on a small number of low-speed roads in built-up areas across East Lothian.
The project will add to the evidence base for low-cost engineering interventions aimed at reducing the speed of motorised traffic and improving the safety of the road network for pedestrians and cyclists in particular. The study builds on research undertaken in 2018-2020, which conducted an academic Evidence Review together with a survey of road safety practitioners across Great Britain, and interviews with a sample of those completing the survey. The evidence suggested that significant reductions in speed were generally observed when carriageway centrelines were removed, and this subsequent fieldwork in East Lothian seeks to fully quantify this.
The study will take place over an 18-month period with fieldwork being conducted at nine sites which will either have the centrelines removed, or else receive no intervention (control sites).. The results will be published in 2025-26.