Chaos is Harmony

I saw a clip on 'Beyond Tomorrow' the other day about a 'naked' traffic circle in the Netherlands. The idea was basically this: Accidents happen because people aren't paying attention. The solution at this round-about was to make the circle seem more dangerous. They removed ALL traffic signs, crossing signs, etc and replaced them with one rule: Cars must yeild to pedestrians and bicyclists. As a result, the number of accidents has dropped practically to 0.

Having spent the past three years working at a university campus, this makes a lot of sense to me. The most dangerous places for me as a bicyclist are the intersections with stop signs and traffic lights. Car drivers will just turn right without checking because they have the light and don't consider a cyclist or pedestrian might be going straight. They also rush up to a stop sign without checking for pedestrians and when they get stopped at a crosswalk, they're more interested in going than checking to see if there are any bikes entering the road. As a driver, I've bee guilty of this obliviousness too. But... At points where there are no signs, as a pedestrian I've felt less threatened by cars and as a motorist, I've been more alert of people and bikes that might enter my path.

Interesting food for though. Especially considering how it might be applied to other things.