German Town Removes Traffic Signs in Safety Bid

The town of Bohmte (population 13,500), near Hanover in Germany, has just received a couple of million euros from the European Union to make its roads safer. What makes this interesting is that the town wanted to remove the traffic lights and road signs and completed this four weeks ago. Since then, there hasn’t been a single accident. Before the removal, the town had one serious bang-up every week and several other fender benders.

There are but two rules for driving in Bohmte. First, the 50 kilometer an hour speed limit for German cities remains in effect. Second, everyone has to yield to the right, whether that means yielding to a pedestrian, a car or a cyclist. The mayor, Klaus Goedejohann, said, “Politeness pays – we have proved that.”

More than that, the town has realized a savings of about €8,000 a month. Whether through normal wear and tear or the odd drunken vandal, signs got damaged, and the town had to pay that for upkeep. Signs that aren’t there don’t need maintenance or replacement.

London’s Evening Standard reported, “Peter Hilbricht, a police officer in charge of traffic planning, added that the main intersection generated about 50 accidents a year before the changes. ‘The number plummeted,' he said. ‘It has been a sea-change in German attitudes as much as anything else’.”

The idea is the brain child of Dutch traffic expert Hans Monderman who calls it “shared space.” By making everyone aware of everyone else in the space, people act more responsibly. Given the success of the idea, London's Exhibition Road is set to become a ‘naked road’ next year. While it may not work in bigger cities (can one imagine New York without traffic lights?), shared space has made Bohmte safer. And it did so by counting on individuals to do the right thing even if no one was telling them to do so.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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