The Wrong Unwinding Road

Kottke points to a Salon article entitled Why don't we do it in the road?

Not even sure to start with this one:

A new school of traffic design says we should get rid of stop signs and red lights and let cars, bikes and people mingle together. It sounds insane, but it works.

No, actually, it is insane.

This is network-o-philia run amok. The author breathlessly recounts her visit to China, where she gazed in awe at the amazing emergent property that is traffic "safety" in China:

In Suzhou, the traffic rules are simple. "There are no rules," as one local told me... During the 10 days I spent in Suzhou last fall, I didn't see a single accident. Really, not a single one.

Really? Because the PRC, known for its tendency to underestimate health crises (*cough* SARS), has other ideas:

Latest research shows that every day in China at least 300 people are killed in traffic accidents, ranking the country top in the world for both the death toll and the death rate. And the figure is accelerating by 10 per cent every year. ... the death toll and death rate per 10,000 automobiles here is eight times more than that in America"... The most important factor was still the negligence of drivers. Statistics showed that last year some 78.5 per cent of the deaths, about 86,000 people, were caused by improper driving.

I mean, seriously. The article goes on to talk about some corner in Friesland, but you've already lost me.

Yes, slowing down traffic could reduce accidents and improve traffic flow, but increasing "intrigue" (their word!) on streets in an attempt to increase drivers' degree of concentration is the most wrong-headed attitude toward traffic safety I think I've ever heard. "Golly, isn't it intriguing that that kid just ran out in front of me?"

Look, I'm not trying to knock the whole concept of emergent properties in systems. What I'm trying to say is that this idea isn't radical enough, and really, it's barely worth considering.

The truly radical idea is that we need to get humans from out behind the driving wheel, and let them resume their proper role of riding.

That would improve safety.