London Street Safer Without Signs

Accidents have dropped by nearly half on a London street where traffic signs, guard rails and road lines were removed.

The story was reported nearly a month ago in the Evening Standard, but I haven't seen it elsewhere, and I felt it worth posting because *Wired *ran a great article nearly three years ago on traffic engineer Hans Monderman, the prophet of street de-cluttering. The story described a Monderman-redefined intersection the Netherlands:

We pass by the performing arts center, and suddenly, there it is: the Intersection. It's the confluence of two busy two-lane roads that handle 20,000 cars a day, plus thousands of bicyclists and pedestrians. Several years ago, Monderman ripped out all the traditional instruments used by traffic engineers to influence driver behavior - traffic lights, road markings, and some pedestrian crossings - and in their place created a roundabout, or traffic circle. The circle is remarkable for what it doesn't contain: signs or signals telling drivers how fast to go, who has the right-of-way, or how to behave. There are no lane markers or curbs separating street and sidewalk, so it's unclear exactly where the car zone ends and the pedestrian zone begins. To an approaching driver, the intersection is utterly ambiguous - and that's the point.

Monderman and I stand in silence by the side of the road a few minutes, watching the stream of motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians make their way through the circle, a giant concrete mixing bowl of transport.
Somehow it all works. The drivers slow to gauge the intentions of crossing bicyclists and walkers. Negotiations over right-of-way are made through fleeting eye contact. Remarkably, traffic moves smoothly around the circle with hardly a brake screeching, horn honking, or obscene gesture

The Kensington High Street project wasn't designed by Monderman, but it was inspired by him. The city's Department of Transport predicted that it wouldn't work -- but accidents dropped by 44 percent, compared to a 17.5 percent drop across the city.

Today the scheme's champion, councillor Daniel Moylan, said it would be copied nationwide.

"We are having visitors from all over the UK and indeed from overseas and they all want to produce their own versions," he said. "It is about re-establishing eye contact between road users. They are now looking at each other instead of just signs."

Accidents Halved As Street is Stripped of 'Safety' Features [Evening Standard]

Case Study Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea [Cleaner Safer Greener Communities]

Roads Gone Wild [Wired]