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What is a Home Zone?

Home Zones are an attempt to strike a balance between vehicular traffic and everyone else who uses the street - the pedestrians, cyclists, business people and residents. Some see Home Zones as a way of "reclaiming" local streets from a traditional domination by cars - drivers have to give way to pedestrians and cyclists and are normally responsible for any injury caused to them.  Others see it more modestly as a way of trying to restore the safety and peace in neighbourhoods that are becoming overwhelmed with speeding traffic.

Home Zones work through the physical alteration of streets and roads in an area. These alterations force motorists to drive with greater care and at lower speeds. Many countries support this with legislation allowing the Home Zones to enforce a reduced speed limit of 10 miles an hour (though UK legislation normally only permits a 20mph limit). The change in the status of the road is clearly indicated through signing, traffic calming measures and landscaping features such as seating, other street furniture and plants.
So, what are the advantages of home zones?
> Reduced driving speeds - achieved by making the driver slow down as a result of the new physical layout.
> Greater levels of safety than traditional streets - due to speeds being reduced the potential for accidents in the streets should be reduced. This allows for safer play or social gathering of residents, which may also reduce the potential for crime as more people are out and about.
> More efficient use of space - a home zone tries to balance the space available for the movement of vehicles with the provision of space available for other types of resident use.
> A more attractive and visually diverse street scene - creating a people-friendly environment means more consideration being given to the design of paving and planting areas within the street.
> Increased socialisation - people tend to stay in the street space for longer periods of time following home zone treatment and there is evidence that more dialogue takes place between residents of all age groups.
The changes to the streets and roads can even increase the housing prices.

Homezones have proved to be popular and effective on the continent of Europe, initially in the Netherlands and more recently in Austria, Denmark and Germany.  In Dutch the term for "home zone" is woonerf (literally 'living yard'), while in German the word verkehrsberuhigung more accurately means "traffic calming".
The UK Government has gradually shown greater commitment to the home zone idea. In 1999, nine pilot projects were initiated in England and Wales, four in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland. In 2002 a further 61 Home Zone sites were selected as part of Home Zones Challenge 2002 for England. There are now about 100 known Home Zone schemes in UK.
As one of the pilot Home Zones in UK, Five Roads is trying to provide an example for others. One contribution is our collection of information about the concept and implementation of Home Zones - please follow these links for more information:
Homezone Links
Legislation
Design of Home Zones
Related action Groups
Publications and Studies
Courses and Seminars
Other Homes Zones in U.K.
Examples of European Home Zones
Check out the Homezones.org website