[zaphod]

where is the post? lol

the forum has gone nuts

[Boris2k7]

Yeah, the forum was f*cked up. It should work this time though...

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSGOR14512420070911

Town ditches traffic lights to cut accidents
Tue Sep 11, 2007 8:34AM EDT

By Catherine Bosley

BERLIN (Reuters) - A town council in Germany has decided the best way of improving road safety is to remove all traffic lights and stop signs downtown.

From September 12, all traffic controls will disappear from the center of the western town of Bohmte to try to reduce accidents and make life easier for pedestrians.

In an area used by 13,500 cars every day, drivers and pedestrians will enjoy equal right of way, Klaus Goedejohann, the town's mayor, told Reuters.

"Traffic will no longer be dominant," he said.

The idea of removing signs to improve road safety, called "Shared Space," was developed by Dutch traffic specialist Hans Monderman, and is supported by the European Union.

The EU will cover half of the 1.2 million euros ($1.66 million) it will cost Bohmte to ditch its traffic lights.

Monderman's ideas have already been implemented in the town of Drachten in the north of the Netherlands, where all stop lights, traffic signs, pavements, and street markings have gone.

"It's been very successful there," Goedejohann said, adding that accidents in Drachten had been reduced significantly.

Officials in Fuerstenberg/Havel, a small town north of Berlin, are also considering adopting the "Shared Space" scheme.

But not everyone is confident it will work.

"Just because it worked in the Netherlands doesn't mean it will work here," said Werner Koeppe, a road specialist at Berlin's Technical Traffic Institute.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8351/29796889db4.jpg
A pedestrian light is pictured in western Berlin April 12, 2005. A town council in Germany has decided the best way of improving road safety is to remove all traffic lights and stop signs downtown.

REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz
=========================================================

[Boris2k7]

http://www.shared-space.org/



Current situation

The space which we inhabit is partly owned by private individuals. The rest of it is owned by the state and essentially intended for general use. Yet, in the course of time, sector-related (traffic) notions have obtained such a predominant influence on the lay-out and the use of public space that such space is only meaningful in its sector-related functions. Man, as a user of public space, has been reduced to a part of the system. There is yet a limited amount of space where sector-related considerations are not normative.

Consequences for individuals

If there is insufficient public space that is free from sectoral objectives then this interferes with the social needs of the individual citizens and the groups which they are part of. For people need space in order to be a citizen with other citizens; a shortage of 'human space' (public space that is determined by human needs instead of by sectoral utility considerations) implies a restriction and deterioration of the quality of individual lives.

Consequences for society

The shortage of human space has consequences for the individual citizens as well as for our democratic constitutional state. Our constitutional state bases itself on a pluralistic society of free and responsible citizens. Sufficient public space of a sufficient quality is essential for the development of free and responsible citizens. A shortage of ‘human space’, therefore, interferes with the functioning of our democratic constitutional state. Based on this line of thought, the lack of ‘human space’ has far-reaching consequences for European political cooperation which is formally based on pluralism and democracy.



Seven projects in five European countries participate in Shared Space. Click on the links below for more information on the various projects:
Province of Fryslân
Municipality of Bohmte
Municipality of Ejby
Municipality of Emmen
Municipality of Haren
Municipality of Oostende
Suffolk County Council

Other projects
Prior to the start of the Shared Space project, Hans Monderman’s philosophy was applied in various other projects in the northern Netherlands. See below for a selection:
Oudehaske (1985); The beginnings of Shared Space
Makkinga (1991); Village without traffic signs
Oldeberkoop (1994); Village of passage becomes a stopping place
Donkerbroek (1995); Inhabitants decide on the look of the street
Opeinde (1997); Renovation of old route for through traffic in village centre after the construction of a new main route
Wolvega (1997); Shopping public and motorised traffic cross
Oosterwolde (1998); Sharing space on equal terms (red square)
Nijega (2000); How removing a road creates opportunities for a village
Drachten (2000); Most popular Shared Space scheme: The Laweiplein
Drachten (2001); Place full of traffic becomes meeting place: De Kaden
Haren (2002); Feelings safe - being safe

[Boris2k7]

I think the obvious questions are:

(1) Does this concept really work?
(2) Is it transferable to North America, in it's current state?
(3) Where would it work best in my/your city?

Look at old pictures of North American cities from the early 20th Century. People and vehicles shared the roads back then. Can we bring that back? Have we lost something important in urban life?

[e909]

LOL. I'd love to see the City of Edmonton take away lights at an intersection with 6 lanes intersecting 4 and multiple turning lanes.

Some "safety" it would add.

[mariokarter]

I can't really see this working, its like asking people to drive on the sidewalks, blaze through intersections with doing a left centre right check, never yeild right of way...Sure maybe it works in the packed streets of India or somewhere, I'd like to see a video I guess.

[KingKrunch]

Keep in mind that these towns are relatively small. That concept would never work in a city.

[Boris2k7]

I don't think that is necessarily true. Yeah, it wouldn't work on a major arterial, probably. However, there are parts of cities that are like small towns as well. Implementation would vary a bit, I think. What is important is determining if the concept really works, and the implications of that. It challenges the notion that vehicles and pedestrians should be seperated from one another, in the name of efficiency and safety. If that isn't true, a lot can change, in terms of urban planning and also in terms of our automobile-oriented culture.

[cslusarc]

This won't work in Winnipeg especially at Portage Ave & Main St intersection, where vehicular traffic is so much, that pedistrian traffic has been rerouted under the street (and utilities) into an underground circular councourse filled with handful of retail outlets.

[jamesinclair]

This works in small places with tiny streets. As in, one way streets in which you can barely squeeze a car in.

Heres a pic I took in mexico. The concept works in this town

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_1102.jpg


Note the division between sidewalk and road, they use different stones.

Of course the roads were designed for horses

[Mister F]

This won't work in Winnipeg especially at Portage Ave & Main St intersection, where vehicular traffic is so much, that pedistrian traffic has been rerouted under the street (and utilities) into an underground circular councourse filled with handful of retail outlets.
That's not because of the amount of traffic, it's because the engineers didn't want pedestrians interfering with their precious traffic movement. You could easily redesign the intersection to bring pedestrians out from the tunnels. The Portage & Main arrangement doesn't exist in Toronto.

[Halifax Hillbilly]

The Shared Space or Naked Streets idea seems to have worked well in London. The shared space area in Kensington was recently expanded I believe.

I don't think the concept is tansferable to North America anytime soon, however I think we can learn a lot from this. I think we tend to over-engineer our streets.

The places I could see it working would be in older cities with relatively narrow streets and high pedestrian activity. Montreal on St. Catherine's perhaps? Yonge St. in Toronto? The concept, with some modifications, could be feasible but I don't think it's an easy sell at all.