Save lives and get rid of traffic signs
Imagine a scenario where a group of people, ranging from children to the elderly, is confined to an oval arena called a “skating rink.” Within this skating rink, people will attach metal blades to their feet and navigate throughout the oval in patterns of their own accord.
To avoid any possible injuries or collisions, one would assume the need for stoplights, traffic officers, and road signs. Without any central all-knowing source of guidance, chaos will likely ensue. Yet, against all odds, skaters within a rink spontaneously create their own order.
Spontaneous order is the process wherein a natural order emerges out of seeming chaos. It is a process witnessed in a variety of fields including biology, chemistry, sociology, economics and linguistics.
I believe a similar anarchistic system in urban areas would drastically reduce the number of traffic related accidents by addressing the root of the problem. By eliminating all traffic signs, speed limits, bike lanes and bus lanes, the burden of ensuring safety is transferred to all users of the roadway. There is no longer a false sense of security placed unto an authoritative centrally planned system.
Currently, a driver approaching an intersection with a green light isn’t likely to fully survey the intersection for oncoming vehicles or pedestrians. However, a driver approaching an intersection with no lights, signals or police officers must be very aware if they plan to navigate through the intersection safely. Drivers must be slow to gauge the intentions of cyclists and pedestrians while negotiating right-of-way with fellow drivers through eye contact.
I’ll be the first to admit this solution isn’t intuitive. A system free of rulers and planners is counter-intuitive at first glance. However, this seemingly utopian concept is hardly a novel idea within traffic engineering.
It’s known as “shared space” and has had remarkable results in various locations throughout the world. Dracthen, a town in the Netherlands of roughly 40,000, has served as a pioneer for shared space. Since traffic signals and lights have been removed the wait time in traffic, even during peak hours, has been reduced across the board. The wait time for automobiles has decreased from 50 seconds to 30 seconds. In Ashford, England, shared space helped to decrease accidents involving injury by 41%. In Oosterwolde, a road junction handling 5,000 cars in a single day has seen no serious accidents since its redesign to the shared space concept in 1999.
While the intent of our modern traffic system may be genuine, the results have produced negative consequences. In 2011, there were 32,367 deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents within the United States. Ironically, the greatest step towards safer roads would require eliminating current traffic lanes, signals and signs, not erecting still more with the expectation that users will be able to navigate safely in the ensuing mess.
Rather than rely on a group of far-removed bureaucrats to perfect a system that need not exist in the first place, we should allow the interaction of individuals to freely create spontaneous order, one which exists without central planning.
Update: Earlier this year (January ‘14) , I spent some time in Amsterdam where I was able to see a lot of these concepts in action. There were still lights and signs around but not nearly as many as you’d see in the US. Open areas that were shared by pedestrians, taxis, trams, and private vehicles were much more common. Not only did I feel safer on their streets but I felt transportation was much more efficient overall as well.
