Accident-free zone

spen666

: The German town which scrapped all traffic lights and road signs

If you find yourself crossing the road in the German town of Bohmte, look both ways – and then perhaps check again.

It has scrapped all its traffic lights and road signs in a radical experiment designed to make the streets safer. Yesterday, the local council said the scheme was a complete success.


In the four weeks since the signs were ripped up, there has not been a single accident.


Officials wanted to test the theory that the 13,000 drivers who use the town every day would take extra care and show each other greater consideration if they were not told what to do.

They secured a £1.8million grant from the European Union to set up the scheme in the town near Hanover.


Four weeks ago, Bohmte banned traffic lights and warning signs, including those instructing drivers to give way or stop.


Only two rules remain – drivers cannot go above 30 mph, the German speed limit for city driving, and everyone has to yield to the right, regardless of whether it is a car, a bike or a mother with a pushchair.

Officials revealed there have been no shunts, bumps or pedestrian injuries in the month since the scheme started.

Previously, there was at least one serious crash every week and scores of lesser 'fender-benders'.

The scheme, based on the idea of 'shared space' from Dutch traffic expert Hans Monderman, will now continue indefinitely. The mayor, Klaus Goedejohann, said: 'Politeness pays – we have proved that.'

Peter Hilbricht, a police officer in charge of traffic planning, added that the main intersection generated about 50 accidents a year before the changes.

'The number plummeted,' he said. 'It has been a sea-change in German attitudes as much as anything else.'

The EU has subsidised similar programmes in seven cities across Europe. Exhibition Road in London has been due to become a 'shared space' for the last three years.

However, funding is an issue and the scheme is not expected to start until next year. One unexpected bonus of the trial in Bohmte is that the town is saving £5,000 a month replacing and repairing signs damaged through normal wear and tear or by vandals

Nice to see officials testing theory with innocent, non volunteer members of the public :twisted: :evil:

saveswalking

"Mr Goedejohann said the scheme was a true expression of "people power". More than three years ago Bohmte's residents were asked to come up with suggestions aimed at cutting congestion on the town's main thoroughfare that served as an east-west lorry route.

"The residents were against the obvious suggestion which would have been a bypass, because experience showed that they take away customers from the shops," the mayor said. "They wanted to keep traffic passing through the town centre but slower and at a reduced volume," he said.

As Hans Monderman's concept seemed worth investigating, the town made contact with his office in Holland. Within weeks Mr Monderman was himself in Bohmte, explaining the advantages of his scheme to a crowded town hall. A busload of initially-sceptical Bohmte townsfolk travelled to Drachten to see the concept in action. "They were pooh-poohing the idea on the way there, on the way back they were converted," the mayor said yesterday.

Yet not all the experts were convinced. Siegfried Brockmann, a traffic accident specialist for Germany's Association of Insurers said that the project only worked when there is a consensus of opinion among those involved. "More than 13,000 vehicles pass through Bohmte daily, most of them are from outside. There can hardly be any consensus in this case," he said.

However, Mr Goedejohann maintained that up to 20,000 were passing through Drachten each day before "shared space" was introduced into the Dutch town. "With our version of shared space, we hope that Bohmte will gain a reputation among lorry drivers as a town to be avoided."

Most experts agreed that more traffic signals was the wrong answer. "They simply encourage drivers to speed up in order to get past them," said Professor Klaus Becker, a specialist at Dresden's Technical University.

Others such as Professor Bernhard Schlag, one of Germany's handful of traffic psychologists, argued that "shared space" creates the ideal conditions for a greatly-improved environment for inner city residents. "If the goal is an inner city which is pleasant to live in, we have to make streets narrower, install roundabouts and even build bends in the road," he said.

Professor Schlag bases his argument on his experiences in town centres with narrow streets that were built in the Middle Ages. "You can pass through these city centres by car but it's not easy," he said.

Rainer Kling, Bohmte's police spokesman, said the scheme already appeared to have cut congestion in the town and encouraged a more courteous attitude among road users.

Two farmers who stood admiring the new "shared space" highway were nevertheless sceptical about the scheme's wider use. "I don't think it would work in a really big city though," insisted one. "Can you imagine this working in the middle of Paris?" he asked.

source : Independant i.e. Tuesday, June 24 2008

sw

Gavin Gilbert

spen666 wrote:

Nice to see officials testing theory with innocent, non volunteer members of the public :twisted: :evil:

German officials have a long history of such practices :twisted: