Why no road rules rule

A Dutch experiment to scrap traffic lights has led to empty roads and fewer crashes . Could it solve Britain's gridlock?
Britain's choked city streets might be a lot safer and free-flowing if all the traffic lights, bus lanes and white lines were removed, according to new research.

In a complete switch from received wisdom on congestion and road crashes, transport experts in the Netherlands have found that leaving drivers, pedestrians and cyclists to their own devices can be ideal.

Far from generating anarchy, road rage and a trail of death and destruction, taking away traffic controls prevents drivers 'bunching' into gridlock and speeding because it forces them to slow down and take more care.

Experiments in towns in the northern Friesland region found that busy junctions where two or three people had been knocked down and killed every year dropped to a zero death rate when they took the traffic lights away and put a tree in the middle of the street instead. UK experts now believe the same methods could work in Britain.


Now the Government is 'cautiously' analysing results from Holland and other Continental countries where the method has been pioneered to see if it can be copied in Britain.

Ben Hamilton-Baillie, an urban design specialist and consultant to the Institution of Civil Engineers, said towns and cities should be redesigned. 'This kind of thinking is spreading from the Netherlands through Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany and Belgium and there are signs it is being picked up here and could represent the future on our streets,' he said.

He pointed out that research on the Continent had shown that where all vehicles slowed down to around 18 mph traffic flowed more freely and was safer than if it was stop-start between traffic lights, where motorists were tempted to speed for short distances and also to shoot red signals.

In many Dutch towns, traffic lights and pelican crossings have been removed, cyclists are not given bike lanes and there are no speed limits, so cars and bicycles weave in and out of each other and even blind people can just step safely out into the street - because traffic is moving so slowly it can react quickly to any obstacle.

Hamilton-Baillie said he was encouraged by town planners in Friesland to walk across a busy junction with his eyes closed. He reached the other side safely without the sound of screeching brakes and curses from drivers.

'Obviously you cannot bring this kind of thing in overnight - but if you phase it in then people learn to think differently and motorists take responsibility for their actions,' he said.

Reports have shown Britain has the most congested roads in Europe. And while the overall road safety record is the best, observers say this partly results from Britain's addiction to the car. Britons rely on their cars for more of their journeys than anywhere else in Europe and walk and cycle less than most, so are less vulnerable on the road. And the 'school run' has made children reliant on being driven to school by their parents which, although it saves lives, deprives them of exercise and a sense of self-reliance.

But Britain's record on pedes trian deaths is nowhere near as good. Safety groups have slammed as 'lamentable' the UK's position at 10th in the European league on child pedestrian deaths, with more than 100 children knocked down and killed every year, or one death per 100,000 population against top performer Sweden at 0.2.

Britain has adopted measures in a small number of residential streets, dubbed Home Zones, where priority is given back to children playing in the street or walking to school and the speed limit is set at 20mph.

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