Don't Drive Dutch - It Won't Work Here

If we built in Boston the roads Hans Monderman is building in Holland, there'd be blood in the streets.  Here's a description of an intersection he re-designed, eliminating all the signage and allowing people to make their own decisions about how to walk and drive (hat tip: MR):

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. [The] intersection is utterly ambiguous. . ..  [The] stream of motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians make their way through the circle. . ..  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.  (emphasis added)

I don't think Leverett Circle would work quite the same way if we ripped out all the signs and flattened the curbs.  I think cars would collide, pedestrians would die, and "Fuck you!" would be the favored opening gambit in right-of-way negotiations.

But there's merit to Monderman's ideas.  I'm a big proponent of the idea that traffic finds its own way around temporary hazards.  That's why I think most manual traffic direction causes more problems than it solves.  Which is part of the reason I think police details should be limited.

UPDATE: I mistakenly omitted a link and citation to the quoted paragraph.  It is from an excellent article in Wired online at this URL.

Comments

[Jay Walker]

The many articles about Hans Monderman and his efforts to get rid of signs and traffic lights never tell us how today's traffic regulations endanger and obstruct traffic. For that you have to go to "Traffic Control - An Exercise in Self-Defeat."
www.bikewalk.org/trafficcontrol_backtobasics.doc

or www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv27n3/v27n3-brieflynoted.pdf

Jay Walker