Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,druck-448747,00.html>

SPIEGEL ONLINE - November 16, 2006, 02:39 PM

CONTROLLED CHAOS

European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs

By Matthias Schulz

Are streets without traffic signs conceivable? Seven cities and regions in
Europe are giving it a try -- with good results.


Ben Behnke

Drachten in the Netherlands has gotten rid of 16 of its traffic light
crossings and converted the other two to roundabouts.

"We reject every form of legislation," the Russian aristocrat and "father
of anarchism" Mikhail Bakunin once thundered. The czar banished him to
Siberia. But now it seems his ideas are being rediscovered.

European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and
directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and
humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head
and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and
warning signs.

A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven
cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in
Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and
the Belgian town of Ostende.

The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province
of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population
1,000) reads "Verkeersbordvrij" -- "free of traffic signs." Cars bumble
unhurriedly over precision-trimmed granite cobblestones. Stop signs and
direction signs are nowhere to be seen. There are neither parking meters
nor stopping restrictions. There aren't even any lines painted on the
streets.

"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be
considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior,"
says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders.
"The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of
personal responsibility dwindles."

Monderman could be on to something. Germany has 648 valid traffic symbols.
The inner cities are crowded with a colorful thicket of metal signs. Don't
park over here, watch out for passing deer over there, make sure you don't
skid. The forest of signs is growing ever denser. Some 20 million traffic
signs have already been set up all over the country.

Psychologists have long revealed the senselessness of such exaggerated
regulation. About 70 percent of traffic signs are ignored by drivers.
What's more, the glut of prohibitions is tantamount to treating the driver
like a child and it also foments resentment. He may stop in front of the
crosswalk, but that only makes him feel justified in preventing pedestrians
from crossing the street on every other occasion. Every traffic light baits
him with the promise of making it over the crossing while the light is
still yellow.

"Unsafe is safe"

The result is that drivers find themselves enclosed by a corset of
prescriptions, so that they develop a kind of tunnel vision: They're
constantly in search of their own advantage, and their good manners go out
the window.

The new traffic model's advocates believe the only way out of this vicious
circle is to give drivers more liberty and encourage them to take
responsibility for themselves. They demand streets like those during the
Middle Ages, when horse-drawn chariots, handcarts and people scurried about
in a completely unregulated fashion. The new model's proponents envision
today's drivers and pedestrians blending into a colorful and peaceful
traffic stream.

It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the
insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down
ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated.
Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and
cautiously.

Indeed, "Unsafe is safe" was the motto of a conference where proponents of
the new roadside philosophy met in Frankfurt in mid-October.

True, many of them aren't convinced of the new approach. "German drivers
are used to rules," says Michael Schreckenberg of Duisburg University. If
clear directives are abandoned, domestic rush-hour traffic will turn into
an Oriental-style bazaar, he warns. He believes the new vision of drivers
and pedestrians interacting in a cozy, relaxed way will work, at best, only
for small towns.


But one German borough is already daring to take the step into lawlessness.
The town of Bohmte in Lower Saxony has 13,500 inhabitants. It's traversed
by a country road and a main road. Cars approach speedily, delivery trucks
stop to unload their cargo and pedestrians scurry by on elevated sidewalks.

The road will be re-furbished in early 2007, using EU funds. "The sidewalks
are going to go, and the asphalt too. Everything will be covered in
cobblestones," Klaus Goedejohann, the mayor, explains. "We're getting rid
of the division between cars and pedestrians."

The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment
in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants.
There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years.
Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and
drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.

"More than half of our signs have already been scrapped," says traffic
planner Koop Kerkstra. "Only two out of our original 18 traffic light
crossings are left, and we've converted them to roundabouts." Now traffic
is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get
in someone's way and you'll be towed."

Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically.
Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even
London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy.
And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington
neighborhood.

-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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