Odd? or, Innovative?

[bystander]

This is on the yahoo "Odd News" section, so who knows how much stock you can put in it, but poses an interesting idea:

German town ditches traffic lights to cut accidents (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070910/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_germany_traffic;_ylt=Ausd4eWxOsyRlBtUijZW oMrtiBIF)

Seems that the notion here is traffic signals give pedestrians and cars a false sense of security. By doing without signaling, drivers & pedestrians must heighten their awareness to keep out of trouble. Which in turn cuts down on accidents.

Looks like more work for the traffic cops until folks get adjusted, but the article says the program has been working in another European town.

[KSagal]

Having lived in Germany for some years, and having traveled a bit in other european countries, I feel that the culture of the car is not the same there as it is here in the United States...

My little town here seemingly has more cars than people. And virtually no one walking on the sidewalks. That is just not so in many little european towns, especially the older ones.

This concept may indeed work in small areas, or even a grid of downtown blocks in some cities, but would be difficult to implement in an entire town...

Still, it is out of the box, that deserves a go...

[citivolus]

I can't say I'm really surprised. Generally when they install red light cameras to catch people running the light they also notice a spike in rear end collisions. It seems to me that every time they change laws to improve revenue... err, I mean safety, there are always unintended consequences. But hey, some places are stranger than others... be sure to stop short here (http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_163174229.html).

[Sharkie]

I can't say I'm really surprised. Generally when they install red light cameras to catch people running the light they also notice a spike in rear end collisions. It seems to me that every time they change laws to improve revenue... err, I mean safety, there are always unintended consequences. But hey, some places are stranger than others... be sure to stop short here (http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_story_163174229.html).

I've heard that old wive's tale, but here in Calgary, they did some studies regarding that very concept. Rear end collisions did NOT go up, and crashes with people running the red lights has dropped rather dramatically. I guess, if you follow some people's logic, it's just fine to break the law as long as you don't have to pay anybody to do it. I mean, look at people turning right on a red light. The law requires you to come to a full stop before you proceed, but these days people barely slow down to make a right on a red, assuming they "think" they can see far enough that they won't get hit. I understand the feeling that things are done to increase revenue, and perhaps some things are, but accidents can be prevented by some of these things. I am fully in favor of red light cameras, but fully opposed to multanova radar speed cameras. In the case of the former, they are proven to reduce crashes, and in the event that a crash does happen, it can frequently show who was at fault. With multanova, it's merely a tax for speeding, and there is little evidence to show that it slows people down. If people can afford the tickets, what punishment is there to cause them to slow down?

I was a driving instructor/examiner for a number of years, and I'm not just pulling statistics out of thin air, I have seen the results of the studies. It has gotten worse over the years, and is going to continue to get worse as long as we, the public, allow it to get worse. I never understood why the most important thing on a driver's test was parallel parking. How many people do you know that have died because they couldn't parallel park? There are a great many things that are far more important, why isn't more emphasis placed on them? Why is it that you do a test once, and you then have a license pretty much for life? It's obvious that people never have to take a retest, their skills that they gained to pass the test are quickly tossed out the window as soon as they have that piece of paper in hand. How many more people have to die before we say enough is enough? I guess it would be too much of an inconvenience for most of us to have to bother to pass a test again, and yet everyone develops bad or sloppy habits. These can become deadly if left uncorrected, but unfortunately, that just isn't important to legislators, or the voters. It's sad really, but we have brought it on ourselves.

Jim

[citivolus]

I've heard that old wive's tale, but here in Calgary, they did some studies regarding that very concept. Rear end collisions did NOT go up, and crashes with people running the red lights has dropped rather dramatically.
Interesting, I guess it depends on where you are and how the local drivers react. I imagine tourism has a fairly large impact because people unfamiliar with the area may not be aware of the prevailing "local custom." This Virginia DOT study (http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/01/117.asp) showed an increase in injuries.