In the second in our series on driving schemes, we look at roads where pedestrians have vehicles share the same space. Could it work in your town?
What's the big idea?
Shared Space is a concept pioneered by the Dutch traffic management expert Hans Monderman (now deceased). Monderman's idea was that the excess of visual stimuli that drivers have to contend with was hindering, not helping, safe driving. Without all the signage telling you what to do where, drivers have to read the road ahead and become more responsive.
Shared Space was first trialled in the Dutch village of Makkingen in 1998. A larger scheme was installed in the town of Drachten in 2003. Traffic lights and signage were removed. A major junction, which once had lights on each exit, and pedestrian crossings over each branch, was cleared of all its markings. And pavements were lowered to the same level as the road surface. Drivers entering the junction must negotiate with one another, and pedestrians, in order to clear the junction.
Surprisingly the scheme has been an almost unqualified success. Drachten now has a better traffic flow, and accidents have fallen from eight per year to a statistical zero.
The success of the Drachten scheme has led to similar developments elsewhere in the world, including Australia and Germany.
In Britain the first small-scale Shared Space scheme opened in Brighton in 2007. New Road is a popular entertainment destination lined with bars and theatres, opposite the city's historic Royal Pavilion.
Brighton and Hove City Council resurfaced the entire street (pavement and roadway) with block paving, so that pedestrians and vehicles were on the same level. Only a slight gradation of stone, and the position of street furniture, gives a visual clue as to where pavement ends and street begins.
The Brighton scheme has resulted in significantly lower volumes of motorised traffic (93 per cent down), travelling at lower speeds - an average 10 mph - and a corresponding rise in cycle traffic (a 93 per cent increase). Pedestrian traffic has increased by 162 per cent.
Similar schemes have also been introduced in central London (Kensington High Street and Seven Dials, Covent Garden) and a more comprehensive scheme is being built in Ravenswood near Ipswich.
Arguments for
Better traffic flow. The removal of traffic lights allows traffic to flow more freely. That means less pollution and shorter journey times. It also saves councils money on the maintenance of expensive traffic control systems.
Reduced accidents. When cars approach junctions, they do so at lower speeds. Drivers, disorientated by the lack of signage, have to concentrate more carefully on the roads. Better concentration equals better safety.
Aesthetics. City centres have become cluttered with ugly signs, red routes, yellow lines, pedestrian crossings and traffic light pillars. Shared Space removes most of these unnecessary visual distractions, allowing for pleasant landscaping. In Drachten, for instance, the roundabout has been replaced with decorative fountains.
Not nannying. Drivers are sick and tired of taxes, regulations and signs telling them what to do. Shared Space is an antidote to the nanny state approach to driving. It recognises drivers' intelligence and allows them, not the traffic lights, to make the decision of when to enter the junction.
Arguments against
Stealth pedestrianisation. Brighton cabbies will tell you that increased pedestrian use on New Road is nothing to do with the Shared Space concept. They argue that most private drivers don't realise that they can drive down the road, because it looks so much like a pedestrian zone. Certainly taxis and commercial vehicles greatly outnumber private cars.
Disabled pedestrians. Groups campaigning on behalf of the deaf, blind and other pedestrians with disabilities have criticised shared space schemes. Assistance dogs are trained to recognise raised kerbs and barriers. Pelican crossings are easily identifiable to blind people because of bumps in the paved surface. Removing these visual and tactile aids are a step backwards in provision for people with disabilities.
Idiots. Shared Space schemes rely on the intelligence and goodwill of the law-abiding majority. But there is no compensating for idiots. There is a small percentage of drivers who view the absence of signage as an invitation to drive as recklessly as they like.
Increased familiarity. Critics argue that Shared Space schemes only work because of their novelty. Drivers used to familiar signage are caught unawares and have to use their wits. But if Shared Space schemes became the norm, drivers would get used to them and pay less attention.
Related links
Smart idea? Have your say...
Is Shared Space common sense, or a recipe for disaster? Would you feel safe crossing the road in Drachten? As a driver, have you encountered Shared Space schemes? Share your thoughts with us below.
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pointless way of obtaining some changes though it may work only in special isolated cases. regulation of traffic should strat at early age and then should continiue at shools,etc.that is where stress should be put on and no ''experiments '' will improve it.education solves problems better.
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There is one route in particular in York where, when the lights are working, there is really bad traffic congestion. When the lights go off, the traffic just melts away and everything is flowing freely. When they come back on the jams return. I rest my case. The lights all seem to be programed to cause maximum disruption.
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It would be interesting to see how drivers and pedestrians would both have to look out for the other, the driver would be constantly driving to a speed that would get him through and he would be aware of all his or her surroundings whilst at the same time the walker would have to be aware of his or her surroundings. It would work because we would have a situation where you would be looking out for people and not blindingly looking at sign post, the very things that make you take your eye of the road. Great idea, get it implemented. Give the people back their right to think for themselves and each other.
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This scheme has also been partially adopted around the town centre of Ashford in Kent & I like it!!! It makes car drivers slow down & look at what's going on around them instead of the ring road racetrack that was there before! I hope this kind of 'thinking' partnership between drivers & pedestrians is developed & used much more widely in Britain! :o)
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This is not the right way to go in Britain. Britain has some of the most selfish and careless drivers I have ever seen. It may very well work for a short time or with drivers who drive with due care and consideration, but I am afraid that we brits are not like this for the most part. I would expect nothing more than long queues and pedestrians being unsure where to cross safely causing an increase in J walking, this in turn could cause more accidents than the cars trying to negotiate the junction. As the article above points out, what about people who rely on these road markings to get around our roads safely? Have they no right to get around safely? What measures are to be put in place to prevent them for being injured on a daily walk? Or stopping them from leaving the house at all? I can not see this going national, there are far too many unanswered questions that NEED to be addressed and thought through throughly. I hope to god they think about the issues involved with this kind of project, I myself feel unsafe crossing our roads as it is and don't enjoy going around junctions and roundabouts as I know just around the corner there is a driver who couldn't care less about other drivers on the road. Just imagine what will happen if you take away the only measures in place to try and keep our roads safe.
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I think it is a good idea. I live on a busy road. The residents have been campaigning for a bypass since the 60s. About 5 years' ago there was a 2-year consultation with the Council and it was agreed that traffic-quietning measures should be brought in, since the bypass was not able to be introduced, such as 'sleeping policemen' (road ramps). Then the local area changed political parties and the measures were removed. Now it is impossible to cross the road except at rush-hour when there is a traffic-jam. The records of asthema and stress-related dermatities have risen again. I would like a simple rule: Pedestrians have right of way. So if a car knocks down a kid, the driver should be prosecuted. If an OAP waves a stick or hand, meaning they want to cross the road, the driver has to stop. Make roads part of the place where people live.
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number 3, although i see your point, there ARE and always will be wreckless drivers on the roads, i agree that "pedestrians"(you speak like people who walk instead of drive are completely alien) can be distracted enough to walk out infront of a vehicle, but the problem is NOT one sided and a lot of drivers get behind the wheel drunk, off thier heads on drugs or the very worst kind, speed freaks. i'd love to see how a "pedestrian" can kill someone for getting drunk then walking or taking a cab home. maybe you should see both views instead of that of a "driver".
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#71 piss off my mate hit and killed a drunk pedestrian who staggered and fell infront off him', he no longer drives because of this, not because he was at fault, but because every time he tries to get behind the wheel, he relives the experience. SO DRUNK PEDESTRIANS ARE AS DANGEROUS AS DRUNK DRIVERS
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I am hard of hearing and very short-sighted - I will eventually lose the sight in one eye altogether. I have already had an accident on one of the shred space pavements with a cyclist riding in the wrong lane because I didn't hear him come up behind me. I rely very much on visual and tactile signs to tell me when and where it is safe for me to cross the road - on a busy road I will always use the crossings. There's no guarantee that I won't get knocked down on a crossing, but there's less of a guarantee that I would survive on a shared space concept area such as is described. That's because I agree that the people who drive in Britain (who increasingly may not be British and with a British driving licence and all that that entails) are not the best drivers in the world. Add to that the frighteningly increasing numbers who drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol (the cyclist who hit me was 'high'), and very soon none of us will be safe on the streets at all from our wheeled counterparts.
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I lived in Brighton for four years, and never once saw a car on this road. his cannot be used as example because the roads either end are so heavily restricted, I cant see any need to drive down that road anyway.
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