Archive for the ‘spontaneous order’ tag
Verkeersbordvrij: free of traffic signs
A traffic experiment in the small Dutch city of Drachten is being hailed as a success after observers noted that casualties at one junction dropped from 36 over the previous four years to only two in the two years following the experiment. The experiment? Eliminate traffic lights and signs.
The idea is based on an urban design philosophy known as “shared space.” When drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists are forced to develop their own natural ways of interacting with each other, goes the thinking, they work out better social behaviors than the rule-driven behaviors dictated by professional traffic engineers.
On a 2006 trip to Jamaica, I observed a similar attitude toward driving among cab drivers, who blitz past grazing goats and children on bikes. They honk first and hit the brakes later. A friend of mine who spent a summer in Mexico City made similar observations about big city motorists.
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