“Naked Streets†Without Traffic Lights Improve Flow and Safety

“Naked Streets†Without Traffic Lights Improve Flow and Safety


October 18, 2010

By Jonna McKone

Read More: http://thecityfix.com/naked-streets-without-traffic-lights-improve-flow-and-safety/

Portishead is a coastal town in England about 120 miles west of London. The town of 22,000 people experimented with turning its traffic lights off on a major road in September 2009. Despite the traffic chaos, the streets still seemed safe. The removal of the lights in Portishead, a city that has grown quickly in the last decade, was part of a four-week study “to solve long-standing congestion at the junction,†which was so debilitating and disruptive it sparked street protests and political campaigns from frustrated residents.

But the intersections became permanent after travel times for vehicles fell with no loss of pedestrian safety despite increases in the number of people using the road (more than 2,000 vehicles and 300 pedestrians per hour.) An article in a local Bristol newspaper explaining the effort stated, “drivers will now be expected to use a combination of common sense and courtesy to negotiate the junction of the town’s High Street, Wyndam Way and The Cabstand.†The method is much in contrast to one British publication’s description of car drivers’ relationships with traffic signals.

The thinking is based on the way drivers habitually race through lights before they turn red and who are lulled into a false sense of security by the confidence that they have right of way – making them less aware of potential hazards.

For the trial period, roads were monitored using cameras to see the impact of no traffic signals on congestion. (A 20 mile-per-hour speed limit was instituted over that same period.) In the video and in comments on articles about the initiative, residents said there have been big improvements—drivers pay more attention to the road and nearby pedestrians as opposed to traffic lights. Plus, there are savings, as each traffic lights usually costs 30,000 to 50,000 pounds to maintain.

These lightless traffic junctures are known as “naked streets.†Trial projects that challenge the importance of traffic lights have occurred in other areas of England and Europe. (The first traffic signal, according to this video report, was erected in London in 1868.) The Portishead experiment is not alone in its redesign. Transport for London (TfL) worked to remove lights in the central downtown with hopes of getting rid of as many as 20 percent of existing traffic lights with support from Mayor Boris Johnson. Recently the city aimed to eliminate 145 lights it deemed useless.




[video=youtube;vi0meiActlU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi0meiActlU[/video]

I think many third world countries have mastered naked streets.

Light pollution can be a social problem, especially for nearby residents who live across the street from a large big box development.

A car with a giant razor sharp spike in the steering column would all turn us into the safest, most alert drivers. The consequences of not paying attention are deadly. However it would make driving incredibly unpleasant. Traffic lights allow some of us to zone out and this causes accidents. Having to be on alert for every single intersection would eliminate that problem but make getting from point a to point b 10 times more stressful. As a society seem to be happy to trade stress reduction for all for higher accident rates.

One thing I noticed in Britain is that at pedestrian crossing stoplights, when the walk signal starts flashing, the car traffic gets a Yellow and Red signal, indicating that they can go if the pedestrians have finished crossing.

A similar idea that could be implemented here is to eliminate the 3-second period that we have where it is red in all directions. When one light turns red, the other one can show red and yellow for 3 seconds, before turning green. This has the added benefit of reducing the number of people running reds. This would only work in places where traffic is moving slowly, such as downtown or residential streets.

To improve flow on suburban arterials, the only traffic light improvement that I can think of is to implement more right-turn signals that indicate when right-turning cars can proceed without stopping (when the perpendicular street is in a left turn cycle).

Or, we could stagger the pedestrian signal so it goes on 1-2 seconds before the green light.