Traffic and Accidents Ruining Your Town? Try Removing the Traffic Lights.

"Berang" (berang) 09/14/2015 at 21:29 • Filed to: traffic, roads

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An interesting video about a town with a traffic problem. The solution? Remove the traffic lights and the curbs. Less congestion, less accidents, better pedestrian accessibility. Seems unlikely, but it’s true.

The video pretty much explains everything, so I have nothing much to add, just found the idea and its implementation and results very neat.

facw > Berang 09/14/2015 at 21:40

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It’s well known that roundabouts are safer, and allow for better traffic flow, especially at lower traffic intersections. Americans are just allergic to them for whatever reason. Seems intuitive that taking out the lights would have a similar effect, though I’d imagine it would be slower (due to confusion) and less safe (due to that asshole who doesn’t think he needs to slow down) than a proper roundabout.

Berang > facw 09/14/2015 at 21:47

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Yeah, I don’t think such a scheme would work as well in the U.S. where drivers as less well tested, and generally less aware of their surroundings it seems. There are quite a few small round abouts where I live in less trafficked areas though.

Berang > facw 09/14/2015 at 21:51

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I think the trade off with speed/vs. congestion is that while traffic moves slower, it stops less fequently since there are no red lights. This is generally also the aim with roundabouts - to slow traffic without stopping it. I remember reading some articles in the 90s where the U.S. automotive press was very hostile towards the increasing use of roundabouts in the U.S. because they didn’t like the idea of “slowing” traffic down. Of course the alternative of waiting five minutes at a red light was ok.

facw > Berang 09/14/2015 at 21:54

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There are some places here that embrace roundabouts. Carmel Indiana is using them basically wherever they can: http://www.economist.com/node/21538779 Not the more open double roundabout in the video, but I think if you can do one, you should be able to do the other, though maybe at lower speed.

Massachusetts has a bunch too, but they tend to be old style gigantic ones with obstructed islands in the center and such. I think something like the one in the video could work here though, it would just take a bit more getting used to (I lived in a small town with a single roundabout and people invariably stopped before entering it instead of going in full speed if it were clear, which is not good for traffic (basically makes it a four-way stop), but at least fails safely.)

this is not matt farah's foxbodymiata > Berang 09/14/2015 at 21:56

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Seems to line up nicely with the science of speed limits: namely that they are irrelevant and that people will go whatever speed feels safe and appropriate regardless of signage.

facw > Berang 09/14/2015 at 21:58

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Yeah, it’s nuts. Traffic lights slow things down, create congestion, and decrease fuel efficiency (also increases pollution). So many intersections here in Houston I wish would replaced with roundabouts (or at least be made no left turn to keep the light cycle short). There is one (somewhat non-standard one) in the museum district, and even Houston’s terrible drivers seem to be able to not crash at it, so I feel like there’s hope.

wafflesnfalafel > Berang 09/14/2015 at 22:04

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10 years ago I would had said you were crazy. Several of our local municipalities started putting them in - I grudgingly admitted they do reduce the severity of accidents, (lower speed glancing blows rather than high speed t-bones that traffic signals produce.) But after several years it became clear that most folks know how to use them - so well that they have reduced traffic problems where they have been installed. Sure - there is that 1 in 100 moron that just stops or goes flying right through without looking but in general they work well. I think I now know why - they force you to pay attention.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Berang 09/14/2015 at 22:09

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We pause for a brief interruption of Maserati at 3:35.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Berang 09/14/2015 at 22:42

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These little chicane curves need to become a thing.

wiffleballtony > Berang 09/15/2015 at 11:50

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Ok so I watched the entire video. Ultimately my feeling was this is just a great way to enable pedestrians and bicyclists to enter traffic with impunity. The whole system is predicated on drivers not wanting to hit someone. If you watch the video you can clearly tell it’s just cars trying to maneuver around pedestrians at incredibly low speeds.

Berang > wiffleballtony 09/15/2015 at 16:35

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Yeah, and the problem is what again?

wiffleballtony > Berang 09/15/2015 at 18:11

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Nothing depending on your mind set. To my eyes it’s just a lot of jaywalking. Since there are no traffic signals to indicate who has right of way I imagine that the onus is on the driver at all times. Which is why everyone is driving super slowly. Which again isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in small settings.

Berang > wiffleballtony 09/15/2015 at 18:30

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It’s a public road and everybody has a right to it. They made the intersection better in the sense that now cars, bikes, pedestrians - don’t have to wait in lines while each other group is given an arbitrary amount of time to use the intersection. Cars stop less - stops are shorter - traffic keeps moving. It’s just a more flexible way of allowing everybody to use the roads.

wiffleballtony > Berang 09/15/2015 at 18:50

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That’s certainly what the film says. My question is when a car hits a person or a bike, is it automatically the cars fault? Or are both parties deemed equally at fault for not ensuring it was safe to proceed?

Berang > wiffleballtony 09/16/2015 at 03:20

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On the subject of pedestrians, although it would not automatically be a car driver’s fault in a car/ped collision, in most instances it would be very difficult to argue that it had been the pedestrian’s fault. In the U.K. it is allowed for peds to cross pretty much any road at any point (assuming of course they’re not jumping out in front of cars, or trying to cross a highway), and drivers must yield. So the design of this intersection doesn’t really put any further responsibility upon drivers than any other intersection. Bicycles are treated so far as I know, as any other road vehicle is in the U.K.

wiffleballtony > Berang 09/16/2015 at 09:47

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Interesting, I wasn’t aware of that. It’s a bit different in the US.