Afternoon:
10°c
Plans are afoot to make the default speed on A roads 50mph instead of 60, while more 20mph zones will be introduced in residential areas and in the vicinity of hospitals and schools. All this with the avowed aim of reducing road fatalities by a third, from 3,000 per annum to 2,000. In fact, road deaths have already declined by a third in the past decade - which can only be a good thing. But while no one disputes that a pedestrian hit by a car travelling at 20mph has a far greater chance of surviving than one struck by a car going 10mph faster, I have my doubts that greater speed limitations will actually help in urban areas.
The problem is that drivers no longer inhabit a real world but instead a virtual one in which it's the signs that tell them what to do. In London, drivers are constantly champing at the restrictive bit: revving at the lights, menacing pedestrians at pelican and zebra crossings, accelerating between speed bumps, and generally doing everything they can to squeeze the last iota of forward motion out of their overpowered machines. That's the reason why they hate cyclists who break the rules quite so much - they lust for the same liberty.
Well, why not let them have it? The theories of Hans Monderman, the pioneering Dutch traffic engineer, are definitely the way forward for London. Monderman's idea is simple: if you treat people like idiots, they'll behave like them. So instead of signing everything in the environment, force people to work it out for themselves. No signs, no speed limits, no "traffic calming" but instead full mixed road use for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. In such an environment the driver is forced to take his cues from the actual world around him - and in London that's an emphatically social world, full of real people.
When Monderman first tried out his ideas in a Dutch village he thought he'd be lucky to get a 10kph reduction in car speeds. In fact, they fell so much he couldn't measure them with his radar gun. The Netherlands has some of the lowest road fatality rates in the developed world and in part this has to be because of the way Monderman's ideas have been implemented. British "traffic calming" measures result, I'd argue, mostly in creating suppressed rage in drivers.
The city's chief planning officer is interested in Monderman's ideas and would like to trial them - the Mayor is also said to be sympathetic. It would take a very bold politician indeed to go against the vested interests of all those police, wardens, traffic engineers and signage manufacturers but what's the alternative? If we carry on reducing the speed limit any more we may as well abandon our cars altogether and - gulp! - walk.
Gordon cooks his own goose
According to Restaurant magazine, Heston Blumenthal is up, while Gordon Ramsay is KOed. Yes, it's celebrity chef round-up time again, when us normal noshers are expected to tilt our heads back and stare up at these heavenly bodies as they twirl around their celestial kitchens. Bah! Was there ever anything more absurd than the cult of the stellar egg-flipper and doesn't all that attention paid to what goes in one end of the human organism seem unspeakably fatuous now that the economic proverbial has hit the fan? Yes, there are great restaurant chefs out there — I count some of them as friends — but it's notable that the better they are, the quieter they seem to be.
No cigs, no dogs, no daffs
To Grasmere in the Lake District, former home of our pre‑eminent balladeer of the natural and unadorned, William Wordsworth. Now all that remains of the great man is a museum, several car parks, the haunting beauty of the surrounding fells and a riverside snacking establishment dubbed “William's”.
We halted the carriage so that we might take tea and were struck forcibly by the great quantities of signage adorning William's; there were “no smoking” signs inside, outside on the terrace, and actually incised into the railings — lest some opium-deranged Coleridge fan dream of sparking up. There were also “no dogs” signs aplenty and various others admonishments.
Now I know how the good burghers of Grasmere pick upon the crowd of human daffodils, the next time I see a sign for the place I think I'll just wander on by. Lonely as a cloud, possibly, but blissfully free from such hectoring.
Reader views (13)
In all my experience, whenever traffic lights break down, peaceful anarchy breaks out. It's obvious to most sentient beings that our roads are already suffocating from over-regulation, so presumably Mr Port's proposal is in jest. As a cyclist, the last thing I want is to be constrained within narrow, segregated cycle lanes. No, we need freedom to use commonsense and common courtesy on roads where directional priority is replaced by temporal priority, so we can do what is natural, efficient and safe: approach gently, and filter in turn. We complain about the traffic and blame other drivers, but could it be traffic controls that are the problem? For obvious and pressing reasons it's our duty and inclination to save energy. As a driver, if I come to a red light and can see there is no conflicting traffic, it would be wrong to wait and pollute the air unnecessarily. No good switching off the engine, because switching it back on uses more fuel and produces a burst of exhaust gases. In any event, why should I wait for no reason? So the responsible thing is to proceed with caution. So begins the case for the defence, your Honour. Incidentally, the electricity alone that's required to power our galaxy of 24-hour traffic lights produces 57,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Factor in the cost of manufacture, delivery, installation, maintenance, add the needless delay and wasteful stop-start drive cycle they cause, and is it surprising that polar bears are running out of ice? FiT Roads!
- Martin Cassini, London, England, 23/04/2009 11:42
Report abuse
We sadly now in the UK "rely" too much on being told what, when & where to do things. Common sense is no longer acceptable due to the fact that young people are no longer taught "road sense" by parents, siblings or schools.
I agree with Liz from London comments about the Dutch but we are not all rude, brutish and selfish. Here in the North and particually in Scotland none of the above applies, well, not that often.
- Glen, Newcastle on Tyne, 23/04/2009 10:24
Report abuse
Alhough there are a number of locations across The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and now even Ashford in Kent where shared space schemes have been introduced, research undertaken by Transport Research Laboratory in 2006 for Transport for London showed that only one of the nine sites studied in detail (in terms of the effect on safety) previously had a fatal accident, with none showing accidents resulting in serious injuries. Some of the sites showed a reduction in accidents, others an increase and the conclusion reached was that 'this review did not provide a safety case for simplified streetscapes [shared space] one way or the other, especially for locations with high traffic flows'. It is therefore not correct to directly link accident rates in the Netherlands with the work of Hans Monderman. In most of India, unless a junction is controlled by police or traffic signals, there are no priority rules and signs and the fatality rate is very high and it is extremely difficult to cross a road. We might believe that in the UK we could act as the Dutch do, but what if we turn out to behave more like Indian drivers? The idea of reducing or even eliminating traffic controls (of whatever form), in particular at junctions, is still largely untested and I believe that significant trialling and research should be undertaken to fully understand the complexities of road user behaviour at a range of sites before we start applying a blanket approach to our way of designing road space.
- Keith Firth, Bristol, UK, 23/04/2009 10:17
Report abuse
If the proposed speed limit in residential areas is reduced to 20mph, we may have to look at licensing bikes. A lot of cyclists i encounter on the roads exceed this speed quite frequently, how will they pay the penalty for breaking the law?, a bike licence could be the answer, the revenue could provide for more cycle lanes too.
- Mr S.Port, London, 23/04/2009 01:15
Report abuse
Having once lived in rural Ireland, where(at the time) there were not many road signs, I was shocked at the behaviour of the British registered drivers I came across. They would frequently drive too fast down hilly roads or windy roads, hoot at horses, gave elderly cyclists no room, and generally behave in a thoroughly spoilt and selfish manner. So much for the Netherlands model then.
- Mark, Venice, Italy, 22/04/2009 22:14
Report abuse
What works in tbe Netherlands cannot work here - Dutch people are polite, gentle and considerate, whilst Brits are rude, brutish and selfish.
A 20 mph limit is urgently needed in all roads around schools - I would be happy with that, and it cannot come too soon for me. Maybe my kids will survive into adulthood if it does.
- Liz, London,UK, 22/04/2009 15:11
Report abuse
Most road rules are routinely ignored anyway. For perspective, when motorists do this, it destroys others; when cyclists do it, it annoys.
George is correct - the Daily Mail and Jeremy Clarkson would never allow (and they do seem to have this power) the same strength of legislation here as in Europe, to tackle dangerous and "careless" drivers more seriously. For example, strict liability for motorists in collisions with cyclists, an initiative which significantly reduced accident rates following the first year of its introduction in Belgium.
However, a few seconds saved for white van man "for the good of the economy" seems to make 3,000 deaths per year an "acceptable price to pay" in the UK. Strengthen both legislation and enforcement against dangerous driving in the UK, and Monderman's ideas may become relevant enough to debate here.
- Reg, London, 22/04/2009 14:38
Report abuse
Speed humps, speed cameras, one way systems etc... all great adverts for cycling!
Nothing like a drivers face as I hare past them in a twenty zone on my bike
- Andrew Perry, London, 22/04/2009 13:53
Report abuse
Great idea from Hans Monderman and Will Self is right to commend it – but haven’t we been here before with continental-style “cafe culture”? Scrap the nannying licensing laws, we all cried after a weekend of civilised sipping at a Parisian/Amsterdam/Copenhagen pavement cafe. Treat the British like irresponsible idiots when it comes to alcohol and they’ll act like irresponsible idiots and pour a skinfull down their necks to beat last orders. So we scrapped the old-fashioned, nannying licensing laws and the British – acted like irresponsible idiots and drank even more. Scrap the nannying traffic laws and I fear the roads will be a metallic version of urban bars on a Saturday night with the consequent effects on cyclists and pedestrians. As for motorists being angry with cyclists through envy, I thinks it’s more frustration at arrogant irresponsibility. Cutting across cars at a major junction with eyes firmly ahead and mind set on the ecological superiority of cyclists' rights is fine if all the vehicles’ brakes are 100%, the drivers’ vision 20/20, there’s no 4x4 or bendy bus distracting the driver by appearing to treat them as irritating street litter and, like me, all the drivers are sympathetic occasional fellow-cyclists. I cycle like I drive, always looking out for and consider other road users, and consider getting to my destination in one piece more important than my rights.
- John Reynolds, London, UK, 22/04/2009 12:56
Report abuse
Isn't something along these mixed road user lines being planned for Exhibition Road? I think Will Self is absolutely right, by the way, since the scheme has also been shown to work in trials in Scandinavia.
- Eduardo, N London, 22/04/2009 11:30
Report abuse
Don't forget, it was the Dutch that invented road humps and chicanes. These 'wonder schemes' that were taken to heart by local authorities will of course now become old-hat and be replaced by even newer and trendier schemes, in the same way the fat people attach themselves to the latest wonder diet.
The Dutch schemes probably work better because their laws make drivers financially responsible for accidents even if it isn't their fault. As a result, they drive VERY carefully. We have a different adversarial legal system here, so unless you change the law as well as changing the street furniture, it will just be an expensive white elephant.
- George, London, 22/04/2009 11:15
Report abuse
Will - Roads - Absolutely spot on. Never happen in the UK athough Nanny won't allow us to interfere with her state.
- Ethan, UK, 22/04/2009 11:07
Report abuse
It's a bit of a leap, Will from a Dutch village to one of the biggest and busiest cities on the planet.
- Paul, London, 22/04/2009 10:28
Report abuse
