Motorists would be more careful on roads where only the most essential information is displayed. Forgotten traffic lights, road markings and road signs… Some European engineers are pleading for minimalism in terms of traffic regulation, citing positive repercussions on road safety. According to them, motorists would be more careful on roads where only the most essential information is displayed. “It works,” says urban planner Ben Hamilton-Baillie, head of the British branch of the European Union-funded “Shared Space” program designed to test the viability of the concept of “bare roads.” “. Since 2004, some roads in Ipswich (England), Bohmte (Germany), Ejby (Denmark), Ostend (Belgium) and Emmen (Netherlands) have been stripped of their signs, and the authorities are closely monitoring the safety situation road. The Dutch towns of Makkinga and Drachten led the way in the 1970s under the supervision of visionary urban planner Hans Monderman.
A Ipswich, trois rues étroites du centre ont été débarrassées d’un ensemble de panneaux, lignes et barrières. Il ne reste plus que quelques avertissements discrets mettant en garde contre le stationnement illégal. De nombreux habitants d’Ipswich s’avouent perplexes. “C’est joli maintenant”, reconnaît Valentine Rowe, une habitante. “Mais on pourrait remettre des panneaux de limitation de vitesse pour empêcher les jeunes conducteurs de rouler trop vite.” Certains sont convaincus que les “rues nues” donnent des résultats positifs. “Les automobilistes se comportent entre eux de manière beaucoup plus civilisée”, affirme M. Hamilton-Baillie, évoquant la ville néerlandaise pionnière de Drachten, où les feux ont disparu de la place Laweiplein en 2003. “Ils ont même élaboré leurs propres signaux manuels pour communiquer entre eux”, ajoute-t-il. La place Laweiplein voit passer 22.000 véhicules par jour, dont des dizaines de bus. Ceux-ci mettaient auparavant 53 secondes en moyenne pour traverser ce carrefour contre 24 à 36 aujourd’hui, selon les autorités. Par ailleurs, en 2004 et 2005, on a déploré seulement deux accidents ayant fait des blessés, au lieu de dix en 2002, quatre en 2001 et neuf en 2000. (…)
According to psychologists, a plethora of signs creates confusion among motorists, who ignore 70% of them anyway. Drivers may also be irritated by a long list of instructions, whereas if they can interact freely, they may behave more carefully and civilized, they add. In Ejby, in central Denmark, road signs were removed and part of the center was redesigned. “Some of our cities today are jungles of signs where motorists are disoriented,” says Peter Kjems Hansen of the city’s technical department. (…) In London, in the congested Kensington High Street, the dismantling of 850 meters of safety barriers for pedestrians and numerous signs and markings in 2000 bore fruit: between 2000 and 2003, the number of pedestrians injured has fallen by almost 60% and traffic is smoother. (La Libre 07/12/2006)
It’s unclear who these engineers are, but their perspective is helpfully caustic. The automobile is the domain par excellence where the state’s delirium of control is unleashed. Mandatory provisions of the “highway code”, police checks, photos, radars, multiplication of signals, various prohibitions, exhibition of identity documents on order, forced insurance, chassis numbers for tracking purposes, compulsory and paid number plates (returnable, but non-refundable), “compulsory” wearing of safety accessories…
However, the figures produced and the experiments carried out show that trusting motorists not only does not necessarily result in an increase in the number of accidents, but can even lead to a reduction. That there is then the development of new communication codes, better concentration of attention, and more responsible behavior.
It is true that road safety is ultimately based on self-regulation which cannot be entirely based on fear of the police, and which cannot be replaced by it.
