Wednesday, September 2, 2009

London Seeks to Reduce Congestion by Eliminating Traffic Lights

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/london-seeks-to-reduce-congestion-by-eliminating-traffic-lights/

3 comments:

Rachel said...

I don't completely understand how this won't cause a major safety problem. Could you imagine vehicles traveling down University Avenue and another intersecting thoroughfare like Prospect Avenue with no stoplights or stop signs? How will they not collide? And if vehicles will drive "more cautiously" (i.e. slower) as the article suggests, won't this defeat the purpose of reducing congestion?

On the plus side though, lots of energy will be saved with the absence of stoplights. :)

Maulik said...

I think in downtown london you could not drive above 15-20 miles an hour anyway. so drifting in traffic, you start paying less attention thinking you are just following other cars and someone ahead is watching the lights.

We def want lights on univ and prospect. the speed limits r ridiculously high on em.

Azad said...

Its an interesting experiment, but I think the design of the system matters... is two weeks enough time for people to get "adjusted" and to develop systems of behavior?

One thing that needs to happen is that the current system, must be replaced by ad hoc rules that drivers themselves use and enforce and those may be different in London than elsewhere (these informal customs and rules that emerge in england may well be different than those in the netherlands).... and two weeks may not be enough time for the rules to either develop or to be learned by the general population...

It's still an interesting experiment. I guess sometimes it pays to have crazy people running your cities :)