May 12, 2005
Auto da fé
Try to imagine this in the U.S.—say, in one of these cities:
The implementation in a number of European communities of what some have dubbed “naked streets” has been hugely successful.
Urban planners in Holland, Germany and Denmark have experimented with this free-for-all approach to traffic management and have found it is safer than the traditional model, lowers trip times for drivers and is a boost for the businesses lining the roadway.
The idea is that by removing traffic lights, signage and sidewalks, drivers and pedestrians are forced to interact, make eye contact and adapt to the traffic instead of relying blindly on whether that little dot on the horizon is red or green.
In the city of Drachten, Holland, the approach has apparently transformed the traffic. According to Hans Monderman, a traffic engineer who helped draw up the plan:
“The traffic flow became much more fluent, and there are fewer queues. The behaviour is negotiated through eye contact; traffic flows smoothly, and it looks nicer. And there have been no injuries yet at all.”
A few F150s and Escalades would soon change that.
Posted by Stephen at 12:23 AM in Humanity | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
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