Taking out traffic signals to make roads safer
The light says it's green, but according to urban design and movement specialist Ben Hamilton-Baillie it doesn't necessarily mean it's safe to go. He told Earth & Sky traffic lights give a false sense of security. Credit: Fabrizio Salvetti
It may seem counterintuitive, but taking out stop signs and traffic signals might make city streets safer.
Hamilton-Baillie: Streets which feel a bit less safe, and where there’s a certain degree of uncertainty and intrigue, can engage the driver more in understanding and responding to his or her environment. And that improves safety.
That’s Ben Hamilton-Baillie, an urban design and movement specialist with Shared Space, a European-based urban planning group. He said that stops signs and traffic lights can make drivers feel too secure.
Hamilton-Baillie: What a stop sign gives you is a false sense of security. The light says it’s green, therefore it’s safe to go. Now of course that means that you’re less likely to be able to respond to an unexpected occurrence. Somebody hasn’t seen the signal and walks across the road. If there isn’t a signal there you’re more likely to expect something unexpected to happen.
It’s a radical approach to traffic design and road safety that has caught on in several cities in Europe and the United States. For example, pedestrian guardrails were recently removed from London’s heavily trafficked Kensington High Street, resulting in a 60% drop in pedestrian casualties.
Because people are now allowed to cross the street wherever they choose, Hamilton-Baillie said, drivers have become more alert to the pedestrian presence.
Tell us what you think by leaving a comment below.
Our thanks to:
Ben Hamilton-Baillie
MA, Dipl Arch, DMS, FRSA
Shared Space Advisory Expert
This makes perfect sense to me. I’ve 6 times been the victim of thinking other drivers would stop at a red light or stop sign, rather than driving out into oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, my repeated, painful experience is that “green” does definitely NOT mean safe to go when other drivers are involved.
I think it’s the nature of traffic that people start to tune out and aren’t as alert as they should be while operating heavy machinery. I know I sometimes pay more attention to changing the music than changing conditions on the road. Plus, people get on edge while dealing with traffic. It doesn’t make sense that by taking out signals that people already respond to (at least somewhat) they would respond better to actual conditions on the road. It would be a very slow, confusing, and frustrating experience.
Maybe…. if everyone were out in the road conditions, say, on a bicycle, where we could associate transportation with individual faces and bodies, we’d all respond a little better to traffic. And stop hitting people like iamverb.
It will always be controversial because the city is responsible to install a form of signal after a fatality has occurred. Without any type of signals, we might be driving in total chaos. And since Americans lack the necessary reflexes to prevent accidents and because so many like to sue when they get hit, I would be the first person to object removing any signals, even if there is scientific proof that they do not contribute to our safety in significant ways.
If a signal has saved ONE life, that’s enough for me to keep it.
I agree with Jackie.To me ,I won’t feel secure without any signal.Especially in the evening,the signals can help us a lot.
Cities are not obliged to do anything where pedestrian deaths occur. Besides, most pedestrian deaths occur IN CROSSWALKS WHERE THERE ARE SIGNALS. Signals don’t save lives. They trick people into feeling safe where they are not, and that causes accidents.
That FALSE sense of security doesn’t save lives – it puts them in danger.
Driving is NOT SAFE. It’s really dangerous. If a signal fools you into thinking you’re safe – you’re going to drive through a green light someday and kill or be killed.
The evening, when eyes are adjusting to changing light, is exactly when trusting signals can do the most harm. In the dusky sunset, can you see a slow-moving pedestrian that didn’t finish crossing before the lights changed? No – but the light’s green so you drive right over them anyways.
The whole point is that you feeling secure, when in fact you are not, is precisely what causes accidents. If you felt insecure you would pay attention to where you were going.
Maybe the roads would be chaos with no signals – but at least people wouldn’t feel safe and legally protected to kill each other.
Not to generalize, but in Mexico City where signals exist but are commonly not obeyed (stop signs are mostly ornamental) drivers have to be more alert, and pedestrians calculating and astute. It is said that if you can drive in Mexico City you can drive anywhere in the world. The driving experience is defenately an experience… usuitable for the faint of heart.
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