German Town Scraps Road Signs to Increase Safety
 

I just found this. Its a bit old, but is interesting. A German town has gotten rid of all road signs and traffic lights. The idea being that you now have to pay more attention to what is going on. Not too surprisingly, it works!

German Town Scraps Road Signs to Increase Safety : TreeHugger


http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007/10/24/drachten.jpg

...but, I kinda believe it's more a case of "...fewer idiots = fewer accidents..."

I have a feeling it would hurt the MPG. Every four way intersection becomes like four yield signs. Fine if all you have is roundabouts, but what happens when a minor road intersects a major road? Nobody knows, and everybody slows to 5mph.

...one of the towns here north of Tucson just recently installed one of those "round-abouts" on a fairly heavily traveled secondary road with VERY interesting results!

...no true "accidents" yet, but there are literally hundreds of black skid marks on ALL four of the approaching roads and marks ALL over both the "center" and "outside" curbings...because what USED to be an almost 'square' intersection is NOW an 'outside' circular loop...sorta like having to make a righthand turn to make a lefthand exit...duh!

I read this or probably similar news a while ago. Putting more responsibility on the driver does work sometimes and roundabouts are really helpful. I see in many European countries roundabouts are replacing 4-way intersections. I like the last paragraph...about the guns :D

I like the idea of turbo roundabouts..where you can turn right

I've only ever seen and driven on one roundabout in person, and loved it. I thought it was so much fun I drove around it a couple times, to the excitement of my nephews.

Unlike the UK variant, this one had a central island that was full of vegetation and concrete, making going through the center inmpossible.

some statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS):

Q&As: Roundabouts

Have a look at number 7 especially: http://forum.softpedia.com/style_emo...lt/signher.gif

In Hungary in the last decade or so they replace more and more intersections with roundabouts. I, personally, like them (especially when I'd like to turn around for some reason), they mostly work well (except that many drivers don't use their turn signals as they would have to), but 2-lane roundabouts are really problematic, very few drivers use the inner lane because they're afraid of getting stuck because of those who want to turn left yet choose to stay in the outer lane for that 3/4 turn (because they're afraid of getting stuck in the inner lane, and so on, and so on...) - this is why those 'turbo' roundabouts have been invented. They're pretty rare here at the moment, and I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'm really curious. They should work well. Especially when people get used to them (I've heard that some get confused when they meet them).

On a sidenote, once I met a driver going in the wrong direction in a roundabout, just in front of me. It was quite an appalling experience :eek:

Same here. Multilane roundabouts work only if they have traffic lights. There is a huge threelaner being built close to me, lights will be installed in a few months, for now there is a collision every 2-3 days. I can't wait to drive through a turbo:)

The first and only time I almost had a head-on collision on a roundabout was in Romania last year. That got my adrenaline going!!

:D Was it in Bucharest by any chance ?


Here's few photos of the wonderful free flowing traffic of Bucharest..:rolleyes:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/3...da2f1841a8.jpg http://www.wtftoday.eu/wp-content/20...bucharest1.jpg

The "Magic Roundabout" in Swindon/England is quite mind-boggling...
http://onedge559.com/wp-content/uplo...out_engsvg.png

For real adrenaline though, have to go to places like Sao Paolo, Brazil, any mega-city in Asia, Moscow...too bad we don't have any "comrade" from Russia to tell us tales from Moscow's streets
World’s Worst Intersections & Traffic Jams | Pictures

That Magic Roundabout is a funny thing. Though it is logical and systematic, I'd surely get lost in it :D Man, those crazy English drive on the wrong side of the road to begin with :eek: :D

he-he, it's not so hard, it took me about 10-20 minutes to get over the initial "shock" and 1-2 weeks to start doing things instinctively rather than by thinking when I started driving here in CY. And please, don't say bad things about traffic in England...In my personal opinion from what I've seen the UK is second only to Germany in road behaviorism. And yes they seem to be very passionate about roundabouts but not as much as the French where half of the world's roundabouts are located :eek:, about 30.000 of them, can't even fathom that.Haven't been to France yet though to experience all that twirling around :turtle:

The best part to me is the safety, can't beat that...again a link to IIHS Click Here
....40% fewer vehicle collisions, 80% fewer injuries and 90% fewer serious injuries and fatalities (according to a study [15] of a sampling of roundabouts in the United States, when compared with the junctions they replaced
Theoretically speaking, left-hand traffic/driving does have a few advantages but not enough to say it's better...it's just different..

I was joking of course :D

What would be really bad is switching sides... I don't want to cross borders with different handed driving on the two sides too often...

There's aren't much places near us where that can be encountered:
Changing sides at border

BTW, Hungary was with Czechoslovakia the last country in mainland Europe to drive on the left switching in 1939 when Germany invaded. Your grandparents probably drove on the "wrong" side :D

I can't imagine why did they that :D

Anyway, it's almost new to me. I've already read about it, but totally forgot later :o

My favorites are the giant billboards and electronic signs that espouse safe driving, while distracting drivers from it.

AdFreak: Don't drive distracted, says distracting ad

We didn't go that far south, maybe next year? This was in a small village near Fagaras. The lady (in an old Dacia, of course) went against the flow with such ease and grace as if:

• She did it all the time,
• There shouldn't be anyone else on the intersection,
• She didn't even swerve to miss me, as if she didn't notice me!!

I once asked a Russian about traffic differences between his homeland and Western Europe:

• Traffic laws? What traffic laws?
• The first, and only, time he saw lanes painted on the pavement was in the center of Moscow. Outside of the capital there are no lanes, no dividing lines, no traffic signs.
• Roads are just a bunch of holes. If you're lucky, there is some pavement between holes. If you're less lucky, you won't be able to get out of a pothole.
• As if traffic jams in Moscow aren't bad enough already, rich businessmen pay to have emergency lights on their limos. Even other emergency vehicles (ambulance, police) must give them the right of way. There are thousands of such limos which totally disorganise the traffic flow, so much so that normal drivers are starting to protest.
• And last, but not least, there are stretches of roads in the country were you drive FAST, don't stop, and have your Kalashnikov ready.

I've never been that far east, so I have to rely on his word.

Even being a pedestrian for a week kept me on my toes. But my friend spent a few months in England and claims that it seems more natural for him. But he didn't do any driving.

My Grandparents drove in Sweden in 1967, on the day after switching. They survived. (Grandpa died a year later, but this was apparently unrelated.)

Anyway, I don't need to go all the way to the Isles to see left-hand driving, I just drive through rural Poland on a Friday or Saturday night. The drunk drivers are all over the road:eek:

He he. Want to know why we still drive on the left (aka the correct) side of the road ?

That was the french president deciding that Britain couldn't be part of the EEC in the 60s. After all that help and everything...

Anyway after that we had too many motorways, roads and cars to swap. So we didn't.

When myself and the wife got married and spent a lot of time driving instead of..., well, you know... our fave slogan was

"Frustration can cause accidents"

Still raises a titter in the Arragonis-mobile that one does.

Too much Sobieski being served? Being a lover of vodka and 25% Polish to begin with, drinking from what is purported to be from my grandfather's homeland is comforting, somehow.

I suppose to understand why the brits drive on the dark side, you have to understand their priorities. In left hand drive, the steering wheel is managed by the left hand (genereally speaking, the weaker hand) and the shifting by the right. So one could interpolate that the American was more concerned with shifting than steering :rolleyes:

I look forward to more roundabouts in this backwards country. It is especially nice, I think, in a low traffic volume intersection.

yea, that's the one I was talking about, i think the Dutch invented it...smart folks :D
Another aspect that is to be considered in roundabouts is the cyclists' safety. That's probably the only downturn of a roundabout,(much) more cyclists get injured in roundabouts than "square" intersections.

But fortunately the Dutch thought of that also...after all, there's more cyclists than motorists there, even the Prime-minister used to ride one Bicyclists in Amsterdam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP-gkoCc3b0

I'm Canadian, and a few years ago, my (English) wife and I lived in England for a year-and-a half. We took one of our cars, a Dodge/Mitsubishi Colt automatic (LHD) with us. While the car was having a few necessary tweaks made to make it legal, we bought a 5-speed Vauxhall to drive. I had never driven a manual before, never driven on the left, and never seen a roundabout. Driving on the left was an easy adjustment, which perhaps shows how much we all tend to go with the flow. Roundabouts you only blow once, then you've got it. Learning to drive manual took a couple of lessons with a good instructor, a bit of practice, then no problem.

After all this, a few observations: driving on the left or right makes no difference. Surprisingly, which side the steering wheel is on makes no difference - you're closer to this line, further from that line. Europeans generally pay more attention to their driving and have much better car-control skills, perhaps due to cars which are more involving to drive, manual transmissions being the norm, also lots of high-speed roads, and not just highways. And in England at least, very, very, narrow streets - you've got to be able to place your car accurately.

Roundabouts? Love 'em! Write your local authorities and ask for them by name.

Roundabouts (or as we call them "Rotarys") are fairly common in the northeastern U.S., so much so that I tend to forget they are unknown elsewhere. They can pose their own problems but I generally prefer them to traffic lights.

It means you basicly fall back on the general traffic rules - as traffic signs are mainly used to impose deviations from these rules.

The goverments who installed "shared spaces", claimed they work.
But actual data I've seen on it says it does bugger all or was even detrimental to road safety.
Pedestrians got pushed aside by agressive cyclists, and measures needed to be taken to restore pedestrian safety.

In just about all "shared space" experiments I've read about, signs have quietly been added again later on or road demarcations have been re-introduced.
That makes it a failure ...

If you look closely, at the illustrated roundabout in Drachten (NL), give way triangles have been painted on the road again.
In the Netherlands, just the triangular road markings are sufficient and mean the same as the give way sign - but not so in all EU countries.

What you're seeing in this video, is actually what is really killing these motorist's mileage in urban settings:
Stretched out strings of individual pedestrians and cyclists alike, that cause a lot of cars to stop and start repeatedly.

To let 1 individual pedestrian cross the road, a string of cars needs to stop - whereas often enough, a pedestrian could cross in the gap between 2 cars.


I most often cross the street during a short lull in traffic - not at a pedestrian crossing where and when I'd force cars to stop.

you gotta be tolerant of someone riding a bike. An efficient driver would usually see them coming and time it better.

That's the whole point, you can't time for all of 'em - and the drivers in front of you don't time them at all.

should efficient driving be part of drivers education?

Applying most of the hypermiling driving techniques promoted here during a Belgian driving test would have one result : FAIL !

Engine braking is a requirement though, and they're not supposed to rev the car's socks off either.


Personally, I don't consider most of the hypermiling driving techniques safe for use by rookie drivers.

well, you are entitled to your opinion, but eco drivers are generally perceived as safer drivers, WIN! I'm not the first person to have the idea to teach it it looks like.

Should eco-driving be part of driver’s education? Fuelishness! Fuel Economy Blog
http://blog.fuelclinic.com/wp-conten...codriving1.jpg

I guess it depends on which techniques you use (and how you use them).
Engine braking - OK.
Engine off coasting - not OK.
Being aware and anticipating situations - OK.
Hyperinflating tires - not OK.
Driving at or below the speed limit - OK.
Coasting in neutral - not OK.
etc.

Many of the "not OK's" are not illegal (for example coasting in neutral in Poland), but are not seen by the general, non-hypermiling public as safe. And would not score you points during a driving exam!!

These two things should be seen separately.

If I look around on this list, look at the cars, look at their mileage, there are rather few people whom I'd consider novice drivers. :)

I see hypermiling as an advanced driving technique - not as the way new drivers should be taught to drive from day 1, simply because they lack the skill and experience to do so.
Rookie drivers are far too busy taking in the many signs, the many other road users, all the while controlling their own vehicle, to bother them with yet another rather involving task.

Then maybe people should take two driving classes: the first would be the standard school to get them driving and they would get a license for 5 years. After that time they would attend an advanced driving course (including ecodriving, handling in extreme situations and more safety precautions). The course would be mandatory in order to have your license renewed after the first 5 years.

Isn't road signs suppose to increase safety? There have been plenty of times that I would have been in an accident if it weren't for the road signs that guided me.

Maybe they should make a year of bicycle riding and a year of motorcycle riding mandatory as well. Maybe then people would stop treating cyclists like sh*t.

Probably the number one thing is paying tons of attention and not being in a rush. Teach people that as a value as a driving culture and you save millions of lives and trillions of gallons (SWAG).

...tongue-in-cheek statement: Drivers Licenses should be "graduated" sorta like this:

1) STRIAGHT roads only.
2) RIGHT-HAND turn roads
3) LEFT-HAND turn roads
4) INCLINED roads
5) DECLINED (pun intended) roads
6) "S"-TURN roads
7) CLOVER-LEAF on-ramps
8) FREEWAYS (>45 mph) roads
9) BUMPER-TO-BUMPER traffic (manditory in California)
10) BUMPER-TO-BUMPER traffic in HOT weather (manditory in Sunbelt States)
11) INCLEMENT weather (sand)
12) INCLEMENT weather (snow)
13) INCLEMENT weather (rain)
14) INCLEMENT weather (wind)
15) DRIVING without TRAINING wheels
16) PUT THE CELL PHONE DOWN before you drive
17) APPLYING THE BRAKES, part I (normal conditions)
18) APPLYING THE BRAKES, part II (abnormal conditions)
19) APPLYING THE BRAKES, part III (panic situations)
20) RELEASING PARKING BRAKE before driving

...etc.

Sooner or later we'll all be in a situation where we are in a hurry, that is pretty much inevitable. And what about in an emergency situation? What if you're driving in unfamiliar location? We also need to take those in consideration.

Turbo roundabout nearby!!
 

I just read that the huge intersection being built close to me (10km towards city center) is supposed to be a turbo roundabout! Today they opened the third, outer lane, but I haven't been thereabouts for at least 3-4 weeks. Next time I'm there I'll keep my eyes peeled and see if it really is a turbo, and if so how drivers accept it. From what I've read in a few months there will be traffic lights installed, so I wonder if they will help/hurt the flow. Also, I'm curious if it will be assymetrical, since there will be an overpass for traffic going straight in one direction.