Traffic Lights Replaced By...Courtesy?
by EcoGeek.org on 11.12.06
Drachten, a small Dutch city with around 50,000 residents has removed almost all of its traffic lights. Major intersections have been converted to roundabouts, smaller intersections just let drivers work make decisions on their own. Basically, it's anarchy. Anarchy that has completely eliminated dangerous crashes and road fatalities and created a surge in bicycle and pedestrian traffic.
Crashes still happen, but they have all been fender benders. The architect of the project, Dr Hans Monderman explained, "We want small accidents, in order to prevent serious ones in which people get hurt." Instead of relying on a set of hard rules, drivers are asked to take their safety, and the safety of others, into their own hands. The result is that people are more aware, more careful and drive slower, but are far less frustrated while driving. Bikes and walkers now rule the roads and can pretty much travel non-stop around town
The Telegraph recently reported that residents are very pleased with the program. Tony Ooorstward, a resident, says, "everybody is learning. I am a walker and now you are the boss at the crossroads, everyone waits for you. But at the same time pedestrians wait until there are a number wanting to cross at the same time."
The anarchy in Drachten is being expanded. Their last three traffic lights will be removed in the next two years, and, in some places, road paint is being removed as well.
Anarchy seems to breed courtesy, in Holland at least, and at the very least, it increases awareness. Maybe this is the first step toward an actual blended transportation system, where bikes pedestrians and cars treat each other with appropriate respect. An act as simple as removing an object that everyone hates anyway could be a solution to a lot of our problems.
For some reason I don't think this will work in the "I'll-buy-an-SUV-if-I-wanna" Unitest States.
But it does make me want to emigrate, even after the recent sweep.
Might work in Holland. In Japan, I saw a beer vending machine standing next to a light pole out on a quiet rural road. In both those cases, the nature of the populace permits that level of trust. Try that here in America, you'd never get across the road if you're timid (ex: Boston drivers). And that beer machine would last about 12 hours until some jerk with a flatbed truck comes by.
Roundabouts do work in USA
check out this site
http://www.roundabouts.com/pages/1/index.htm
U.S. traffic engineers need to visit Europe and see how efficient roundabouts are compared to energy wasting traffic light and stop sign intersections. Intersection design in Europe relies heavily on roundabouts where yield signs are favored over stop signs. Having just returned to the states after several years in Europe I'm amazed how retarded our intersections are compared to most of Europe's.
What treehugger doesn't say or ask is "how much power do they save?".
In America this would not work our teens are idiots behind the wheel. Added to the Doctor Spock generation and it is a bad mix.
In rural America this already works in Lincoln Nebraska they have areas with out stop signs that are just intersections.
It works for them. People are more cautious there.
It could work if folks want it to.
D~W
Yeah, we have markless intersections here in Montana too. I was really quite confused by them at first but they're actually very safe. Like you said, you're just more cautious.
Yield signs, it turns out, are much more dangerous. They give the driver a sense of security "oh, I have the right of way, I can go" and then there's no reason to even look and see if anyone's coming.
Result: *Wham*
Unsafe for bikers, unsafe for pedestrians, unsafe for bikers.
It works in America too. A roundabout force the driver to slowdown his car and let the pedestrian the illusion of courtesy needed to cross a street.
You don't belive me ? Take a look at all those pictures :
http://www.pedbikeimages.org/searchResult.cfm?searchtype=simple&categoryId=34&fromCategory=19
And learn more about the way to do traffic calming (life saving) in America :
http://www.walkable.org/
This sort of thing does take some education to work well, but it can definitely work anywhere. It works especially well in high pedestrian traffic areas, where it's clear that cyclists and motorists need to be very attentive of the unpredictable behavior of their more ambulatory fellow travelers.
Thanks for the article, but you made a few mistakes...
* the name of the city is Drachten, not Drachen
* The trafficlights in the picture are totally different from the ones we have in the Netherlands (ours are black): picture here
D'oh! Thanks for the tip Ewout, feelin' pretty dumb about messing up the name. Poor Drachten!
As for the traffic lights, I just liked this picture because they were out of use / laying on the concrete in a warehouse, not actually up in the streets. Of course, I hadn't considered how different traffic lights look in different parts of the world, though...it's obvious to me now that you mention it.
Even four-way stop intersections require courtesy.
Do you know why there are no four-way stop intersections in New York City?
Because they caused too many four car collisions.
Many European stop lights have a unique feature different from American ones. Just before the light turns from red to green, the yellow warning light goes on. This gives motorists the opportunity to shift gears into first from neutral so that they will be ready to go when the light turns green. In Europe, about 90% of the autos are standard gears and not automatics like in the U.S.
I'll admit that traffic anarchy seems to work in European countries. However, have traffic anarchy proponents worked in studies of traffic anarchy in countries like Egypt? I sure wouldn't drive, bike or walk in traffic like that...
I'll admit that traffic anarchy seems to work in European countries. However, have traffic anarchy proponents worked in studies of traffic anarchy in countries like Egypt? I sure wouldn't drive, bike or walk in traffic like that...
The narrative of this article is interesting: the author claims it's anarchy. But actually there are rules of courtesy: taking turns, yielding to pedestrians and bikes, driving as though you're not the only one on the road..... These are rules, not anarchy--just expressed differently. And they're desperately needed, traffic lights or no!
I find an important point in this story to be the shifting emphasis from rules to people. Here we see drivers who are aware of their surroundings and perils inherent in operating massive vehicles (even an Echo or Insight in motion is wildly massive relative to our bodies). The paradigm that I often see is drivers who see nothing but the road directly in front of them, oblivious to the many other important areas of activity on the roads--in particular those areas in which cyclists and pedestrians are most likely to be traveling--and I think this arises from a sense that "as long as I follow the rules of the road, I am invulnerable."
It would be nice to see more drivers realize that stopping at a sign, signaling a turn, going on green, etc. is not enough--you actually have to pay attention to what everyone else is doing in a dynamic way.
Right on, Renee. This is really about people accepting personal responsibility - something that Europeans do much better than we litigious north americans (I humbly admit that we Canadians are as over-regulated as the Yanks).
I was in Berlin recently and I was amazed at how scalding hot the tap water was.
"Don't people sue when they get burnt?" I asked a local.
"But why? The tap doesn't come and spray hot water on you, you have to be the one to cause the damage. Why sue yourself?"
Very different ways of thinking!
I can work anywhere, because the reason it works ISNT that some countries have nicer people, it works because ALL people are scared of having their car crashed into.
If you know other people are supposed to stop, you'll have no problem flooring it through a green light. If someone makes a mistake everyone's at full speed and BANG. Big crash.
On the other hand, if you know others have as much right to be there as you, you slow right down to make sure nobody crashes into you. Result: slower speeds = less crashes ++ what crashes there are are at lower velocities.
BUT, could america handle the magic roundabout?
http://www.swindonweb.com/life/magi01.jpg
Five roundabouts combining into one big roundabout, creating another small roundabout turning in the opposite direction.