Since this thread is a spin-off, I hope I am allowed the liberty to quote my response from the previous thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Better yet do away with all traffic lights and signs. Germany has great success in smaller towns.
I noticed your other thread. Having no traffic controls at all is no more beneficial than having too many.
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Another compulsive feature of human nature (and especially of American culture) is to swing from one extreme to the other. Your suggestion epitomizes that extreme.
The (erroneous) logic is that if too many stop signs are bad, having NONE at all would somehow be 'better'. After that strategy is shown to be a disaster, the 'cure' would be hyper-regulation, more widespread than ever.
I'd be the first to say we already have far too many laws. That doesn't mean that having absolutely NO LAWS would be better, or the cure for the situation.
How about having FEWER laws or stop signs? (But that might be anathema to politicians who garner votes with every mommy who wants a stop sign on every street corner to supposedly "protect her children", or their imagined "right" to play in the street. Local politicians know that all politics is local - so the mommy usually gets what she demands: a stop sign that requires traffic having to stop, and diverts the traffic to the next block - until they too demand a stop sign on their corner.
I suspect that most residential areas would prefer to have NO traffic at all on their streets - which is why stop signs have sprouted like weeds.