Signposts to safer driving
by Simon Handby in Your car on 30.10.07
There’s a story on BBC News that councillors in Aberdeenshire are considering removing the white lines from some roads as a traffic calming measure.
Though it might sound counter-intuitive, there’s a fair amount of evidence to suggest that drivers slow down and take more care in the absence of the usual warning signs and information. In 2004, the BBC reported a similar scheme in Seend, one of 12 Wiltshire sites where the idea has been trialled.
The findings from Seend include a 5% reduction in drivers’ average speed, while accidents have apparently been reduced across the Wiltshire sites.
The schemes are part of a planning approach called “shared space”, which aims to reverse the segregation of people and traffic in public spaces that began under town-planners of the 1960s.
Ben Hamilton-Baillie, who created the Seend scheme, has written about the thinking behind shared space in newsletters available on his company website. It’s interesting stuff, but we’re slightly startled by the description of London’s Seven Dials as an intersection that encourages pedestrian “interaction with traffic”.
Add your comment