Housing and Driveway Design: as if children mattered

Abstract

Driveway runovers continue to be a leading cause of paediatric death and serious injury in New Zealand and Australia. Human factors (child and driver), vehicle factors (rearward visibility) and environmental factors (driveway design and context) contribute to the risk of driveway runovers. Previous research in Auckland has considered the contribution of a range of built environment factors to the risk of runovers. (Shepherd et al, 2010) The research identified a significant increase in the risk of injury with longer driveways; with driveways exiting onto a local road and / or cul de sac; with an absence of sheltered parking (such as a carport or garage) and with additional parking areas on the property. The presence of a separate pedestrian pathway from the footpath to the front was associated with a lower risk. Other studies (eg Roberts et al, 1995) have demonstrated an association between driveway (or play area) fencing and a reduced risk of driveway injury. This paper argues that the built environment characteristics, contributing to driveway runover risk, are to be most commonly found in three typologies of residential built form; and that the risk is compounded by household resources, both at the macro-scale (housing affordability as a driver of residential form) and at the household-scale (unaffordability of driveway fencing or of sheltered parking). The first typology can be found in post-war suburbs developed without a garage or with a separate garage located at the rear of the property. The second typology can be found in the lower-cost suburbs developed during the 1970s and 1980s, often using a battle-axe layout, to minimise the costs of public residential roads. The third typology has occurred in the last decade in our urban areas, with infill residential 2 developments, with long (often shared) driveways and little or no consideration given to children’s play areas on site.