The First Rule of Driving in Europe is…
… there are no rules for driving in Europe. Or at least that is the bold plan of a new pilot program being implemented by the European Union. Seven cities will be targeted in this special program which will remove traffic signs and signals in an attempt to free the streets of confining rules and bring back an atmosphere of social responsibility and driver vigilance.
Traffic circle in Drachten, Netherlands. Photo by Ben Behnke
The plan is still in the experimental phase and is being tested on a large scale in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands. According to traffic planner Koop Kerkstra over half of the traffic signs in the town have been removed and all but two of the original 18 traffic light crossings have been removed. The two remaining crossings were converted to traffic circles. Kirkstra says there are now only two rules regulating traffic in Drachten, “yield to the right” and “Get in someone’s way and you’ll be towed.”
From a US perspective this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but we don’t rely heavily on personal responsibility here in the States. I’ll be very interested in seeing how this plays out. It seems like it would be way to expensive and difficult to implement this sort of change in a large scale city like London or New York, but maybe in small towns it could work. There are many developing countries that have plenty of pedestrian, cycle and motor vehicle traffic and they manage to get by without traffic signals, so it is certainly possible. The big question is: Will it be safer?
Check out the complete story from Germany’s Spiegel here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,448747,00.html
-Bill Mertz
rules, safety, traffic signals, traffic, signs, European Union, Europe
