Is it possible through a number of simple laws, lack of centralization and taking responsibility, similar to behavior in swarms of insects, to dramatically reduce the number of laws we use? In a ground-breaking traffic experiment in various towns in Europe, it was proven that this is possible.
Is it possible through a number of simple laws, lack of centralization and taking responsibility, similar to behavior in swarms of insects, to dramatically reduce the number of laws we use? In a ground-breaking traffic experiment in various towns in Europe, it was proven that this is possible.
Without traffic lights, signs, road signs, sidewalks and roads, 26,000 vehicles share the town of Poynton in the UK, and pedestrians crowd the public space with great success, even while reducing the number of accidents in which there are casualties. The "common area" approach encourages the participation of all road users: vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, while respecting each other.
The Dutch transport engineer, Hans Monderman, designed the British town of Poynton using the "common area" method - the busiest town in terms of transport planned using this method to date. The need to change the transportation planning in this town was due to the large increase in the number of vehicles, and the increase in the number of traffic accidents.
Engineers completely changed the intersections in the center of the town, eliminated the traffic lights and the road signs, and created only textural changes in the various roads, the purpose of which is to mark each of the users of the common area his place. Instead of signs and traffic lights, the users of the area must follow two simple rules: keep to the right and limit speed.
A year after the start of the experiment, it appears that the "common area" allows a smooth flow of traffic simultaneously. This fact makes the center of the town a safer and more attractive place for pedestrians, and therefore also causes/helps to increase the commercial activity in the place.
In nature, swarms of locusts, flocks of birds, convoys of ants and other social animals share a common area, creating a harmonious movement of tens of thousands of individuals. The joint movement does not occur as a result of centralized leadership, but as a self-organization of the individuals. The individuals in the group operate based on a very limited number of basic rules, and based on direct or indirect local communication only with the individuals close to them. In this way flocks of birds, as well as swarms of fish and insects get from place to place without "accidents" and very efficiently. Is it possible to expand the experiment from small towns to larger cities? This, apparently, depends only on us, and on the level of personal responsibility we agree to take upon ourselves.
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I am a simple person
So I jumped on Google Maps for STREET VIEW
See what this town looks like:
What can I tell you, I don't know where 26000 cars come in
I would love to see a picture of rush hour on a main street
But what I saw were streets like in "Savion" here
So it's probably not a problem to do experiments in "Savion" we'll see you do it
Such experiments in "Tel Aviv"
It is enough to read the single sentence "The common area approach encourages the sharing of all users of the road: vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians, with mutual respect" to get chills.
As an Israeli, I immediately visualize the absolute chaos in which pedestrians and trucks show mutual respect for each other somewhere, let's say Ofakim. I would very much like the truck to be on the road and my child to stay on the sidewalk.
The whole idea of traffic laws developed out of sweat and blood glitches. After all, the first car in the world had no rules.
Taking personal responsibility does not solve the legislator. If all people would "take responsibility" there would be no need for laws at all. Therefore, at the level of "personal responsibility" that exists today, in most places, including in Israel (not in Denmark), it would have been appropriate to continue enacting laws and enforcing them.
Don't laugh in Sweden switch sides….
In England they decided to switch to driving on the right, but in order not to create too much of a mess, they will do it gradually:
In the first month only the trucks will back up on the right and after a month the other vehicles will join.
It says "follow two simple rules: keeping to the right and speed limit."
I have a tip for improvement - in England, you should stick to the left side...
Not suitable for Israel..
The culture of driving and the lack of courtesy will fail any such experiment in Israel
Lab Tortoise:
All this is intended to prevent accidents, and not to free the traffic to flow more freely.
It seems to me that the difficulty in extending the relevance of these ideas to busier and denser transportation systems lies in the fact that there are more cars/people affected by each vehicle and the flow of information may be too slow.
Perhaps this is also the reason that at an intersection with few vehicles there is enough of a 'right to go ahead' sign, at an intersection with more vehicles they already put a roundabout, at a busier intersection they install traffic lights, and at a busier intersection they build an interchange.
A small bug - the source of the news is not a link