Sunday 2 December 2007

Traffic lights (6)

Does anybody up in Carlisle know how this experiment in turning off the traffic lights at the town's busiest roundabout*, Hardwick Circus, panned out?

* Traffic lights at a roundabout!? Go figure.

5 comments:

Scott Freeman said...

I don't I'm afraid, but it does remind me of a novel by Michael Z. Williamson called Freehold, set on a 'free' planet (unlike those ruled by the UN, liek Earth). In the book, an Earth woman, used to the statism of the UN, finds herself on this planet and is amazed by how terrible it seems. One of these 'seems' is the total lack of traffic laws. Then she realises that whilst on Earth there are traddic accidents all the time, on this planet they only happen once in a blue moon!

Simon Fawthrop said...

Mark,

I haven't seen anything recently but this experiment has been going on longer and will have better results if you want to do some research.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/04/ntraffic04.xml

I also read a story about a town in the Netherlands that removed all signs, including pedestrian crossings, which also proved successful, but I can't find that one.

Naked Roads is the organisation pushing this, again I haven't read their stuff recently but I am sure they can point yo in the right direction.

http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=932

Mark Wadsworth said...

I've heard about that Dutch town as well, but the smart arses say "Oh, that only works because it's a small town, it wouldn't work in London".

But ta for those other two links, I will research. In fact, why don't you do a post on it?

The Remittance Man said...

One village down Cotswold way, if I remember correctly (sadly no reference), did something similar by removing all the "safety signage" in their main street. It raised driving standards, reduced speeding and generally made life more bearable. The only reason they didn't continue was because the county's lawyers insisted they put the signs back in case someone did have an accident and sued.

Simon Fawthrop said...

Mark,

Apologies for not responding earlier, I've been thinking about the invitation to do some research as you suggested.

Its not subject I have followed and only included the links because I remembered them from another conversation on the beeb boards. As it is something thats not likely to hapen I'll pass this time round.

BTW, thanks for your comment on said is said.