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Title: Anarcho-Traffic (City abolishes all traffic signs, street markings, and driving rules)
Source:
National Motorists Association
URL Source: http://alerts.motorists.org/nma-email-newsletter-issue-32/
Published: Aug 18, 2009
Author: NMA
Post Date: 2015-02-24 05:24:13 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 1944
Comments: 11
Last week’s email newsletter touched on the much-discussed issue of distracted driving. The meteoric rise in cell phone use, particularly with texting, has brought renewed focus on inattentive driving. The Christian Science Monitor published an article in June 2008 which points to a more pervasive cause of distracted driving – the over-regulation of U.S. traffic through roadway signs. Per the article, British behavioral psychologist John Staddon believes traffic signs actually make streets more dangerous for motorists and pedestrians. He believes that traffic signs condition drivers to be less observant. Drivers trained to rely on instructional signs, rather than their own judgment, can create an “inattentional blindness.” Staddon noted that while highways in the U.S. are wider, better marked, and less crowded than England, the minor accidents he comes across every day or two in the U.S. are rare occurrences in the U.K. Per Staddon, “The American system of traffic control, with its many signs and stops, and with its specific rules tailored to every bend in the road, has had the unintended consequence of causing more accidents than it prevents. Paradoxically, almost every new sign put up in the U.S. probably makes drivers a little safer on the stretch of road it guards. But collectively, the forests of signs along American roadways, and the multitude of rules to look out for, are quite deadly.” This is more than just an anecdotal observation. A few years ago, all regulatory traffic signs were removed from the city center of Drachten, a Dutch city with a population of about 50,000. Demarcations between roads and sidewalks were also stripped. Despite the free-for-all design, the steady stream of vehicular traffic flowed smoothly, and pedestrians walked the streets safely. “Right of way” became an instinctual process between motorists. Their collective sense of responsibility and consideration created a safe environment. Der Speigel noted in 2006 that the number of accidents in Drachten “declined dramatically” after the open traffic design was implemented. Other European cities similarly minimized their traffic control systems with positive results. The goal of U.S. traffic management should be to rely more on the inherent responsibleness of drivers, and less on micromanaging every movement and behavior by its motorists.
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
Yeah,that should work wonderfully in "the hood". We all know that if there is one thing hood rats are known for,it is their sense of responsibility.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Let’s see how it would work in a large city with congested traffic by comparing side by side videos
The purpose of traffic circles is to alleviate congestion. You think traffic lights would make any difference in the instances you posted?
And it does so where traffic volumes entering the traffic circles are nearly balanced on all legs and where there are a high number of left turning vehicles. I would need to see it tried with a computer model study before I could answer that.
The rond-point at the Charles de Gaulle Etoile (the Arc de Triomphe) works. Huge volumes of traffic move. It most certainly is terrifying to drive it the first few hundred thousand times you have to do it, though. Basically, you have to look right and steer left. Everybody else does it, so it's a merry-go-round. Not for the faint of heart, but I've never seen an accident there, ever. I'm sure they happen, but I've been at the Etoile a lot and I've never seen one. God knows how that can be.
I tackled it for the first time when I purchased a new Austin Healey in Paris and decided to take a driving tour of the city. It was nerve racking for me to say the least. I found Paris to be challenging for driving, but I found the worse driving conditions to be in Naples. Driving in Munich and Vienna was the easiest. All during my month-long visits to Europe in the Summer from 1961 through 1985.
I think driving anywhere in Italy is awful because the Italians are insane drivers. They're not just scofflaws about speed limits the way the French (or Americans) are. The Italians drive straight through red lights. The French at least obey the stop lights. They like to drive too fast, in those tiny cars. I have to read when my wife drives. She drives fast, pushes the nose of the car in, tailgates, and has a foul temper about people cutting her off. That is France. Paris has those grand boulevards built before electricity that join at those rond-points, those massive roundabouts with all that swirling traffic. It does work. In Italy, I think everybody would pile up, collisions everywhere. The Germans would not tolerate such things. They are too...UNCONTROLLED. Germans will stand there and wait for the lights at crosswalks. French people (and New Yorkers) won't waste their time (but generally won't walk out in traffic either). Paris is hard to drive around because there's no grid. At all. It's the crazy quilt patchwork of the biggest of all medieval cities, with those vast bouelevards and rond-points superimposed on top of it. But it's still not a bad city to drive in, because it all looks nice.
Ever been on a "DOUBLE" roundabout before? They had some when I was in England and they keep you on your toes. “Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”
And they're driving on the wrong side of the road whilst doing it. If they put a double rond-point at the Etoile in Paris, it would be a giant infinity symbol, and that's how long you'd be trapped in it, if you ever got sucked into the inner circle.
When I got there I figured I would have problems getting used to it but that wasn't the case. I never forgot which side of the road I should be on even after an evening spent in the pubs... :)
“Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.”
Their collective sense of responsibility and consideration created a safe environment.
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
This may be fine for this small village where they had removed 9 traffic lights leaving only 3 in operation.
showing traffic lights operation on the left and no traffic lights on the right:
#3. To: Deckard (#0)
They replaced traffic lights with some traffic circles which again is fine for a small village.
But look how traffic circles work in a large city with congested traffic:
#4. To: Gatlin (#3)
But look how traffic circles work in a large city with congested traffic:
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul
Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts
#5. To: Deckard (#4)
The purpose of traffic circles is to alleviate congestion.
You think traffic lights would make any difference in the instances you posted?
#6. To: Gatlin (#3)
#7. To: Vicomte13 (#6)
(Edited)
The rond-point at the Charles de Gaulle Etoile (the Arc de Triomphe) works.
#8. To: Gatlin (#7)
#9. To: Vicomte13 (#6)
The rond-point at the Charles de Gaulle Etoile (the Arc de Triomphe) works. Huge volumes of traffic move.
#10. To: CZ82 (#9)
#11. To: Vicomte13 (#10)
And they're driving on the wrong side of the road whilst doing it.
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