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.”
[…]
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.
[…]
“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.” —Matthias Schulz —European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs (Spiegel Online)
This is fascinating… creepy and fascinating.
So is this perhaps some kind of culture-jamming piece? I don’t know about the Ipswich detail, but here’s a longer, more thoughtful Wired piece on the sign-free traffic zones.
Hmm. I have heard it said that any news you read which concerns you is always inaccurate.
In this case I have some knowledge because I live and work in “Ipswich in England”, and have done for about 15 years. While it is possible that there is a secret project taking place in some corner of the town which I don’t usually visit, there is certainly no evidence of any attempt to generally reduce road signs which I have seen.
Just last week we received a letter from the town council informing us of a new swathe of road markings and signs to be placed on our street and some nearby to add to the growing forest of “school zone”, “20’s Plenty” and “No Parking” signs and “pelican” (traffic-light-managed) crossings already there.
I wonder what the real story is in the other towns metioned?