On Kensington High Street, a busy thoroughfare for pedestrians, bikes, and cars, local planners decided to spruce up the street and make it more attractive to shoppers by removing the metal railings that had been erected between the street and the sidewalk, as well as “street clutter,” everything from signs to hatched marks on the roadway. None of these measures complied with Department for Transport standards. And yet, since the makeover there have been fewer accidents than before. Though more pedestrians now cross outside crosswalks, car speeds (the fundamental cause of traffic danger) have been reduced, precisely because the area now feels like it must be navigated carefully.Interesting, but I'm sure that Jay G could elaborate on how some drivers are just terminally stupid.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Making roads more dangerous makes them safer?
Via Emergent Chaos, and interesting (certainly counter-intuitive) view on road safety. Remove stop signs, traffic lights, and other such "safety devices." Drivers get confused, and therefore drive more carefully:
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5 comments:
I think they did the same thing in Holland or Germany, with the same results. Everyone was a bit more careful driving because they knew there were no stop signs, traffic lights, yield signs, etc.
Which coincides with my idea of removing airbags and replacing them with spring loaded spikes. THAT would make people drive more carefully.
It make perfect sense and speaks directly to the lack of personal responsibility in current society.
Traffic signs and signals replace common sense and personal responsibility. How many times have you hard someone excuse hitting someone else because "I had the right of way."
The traffic signs and signals are a crutch. An excuse to pay no attention to driving and what others around are doing.
Remove the crutch and people HAVE to pay more attention and drive more carefully.
I agree with it completely, but it will never happen in the US because traffic violations are revenue generators for cities and states...which explains the rapidly increasing use of "red light cameras" even though they have been demonstrated to INCREASE accidents at intersections and to increase the numbers of severe injuries in those accidents.
It has nothing to do with safety. It has everything to do with soaking more money out of the citizens for politician's pet projects.
I love this plan.
I would buy a dumptruck and crush anyone in my way...
MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I will back totwtytr. . . I had heard of this over in Europe and the traffic problems/crashes went down since everyone had to pay attention to what was around them. . .
Sailorcurt is right about the revenue generation part. That is why in Boston not stopping at a crosswalk is vigorously enforced and jaywalking is ignored. The fine for a crosswalk violation is $100.00, plus surcharges. Jaywalking? $1.00.
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