http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,448747,00.html

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.

Drachten in the Netherlands has gotten rid of 16 of its traffic light
crossings and converted the other two to roundabouts.
Zoom
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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This is insane.  Imagine 18 wheelers doing 80 mph in cities and
running red lights every time.  It would be "The bigger vehicle has
the right of way."