We talk a lot here about regulation versus socially responsible behavior. The simplest of economic models predict that individuals will only act socially if they have the individual incentive to do so...that is if it is in their own interest. At times, such behavior necessitate government intervention to prevent spillovers. But in some European cities, localities are experimenting with training people to be socially responsible. How? By removing all traffic signs.
"The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior," says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. "The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles."
One effect removing traffic signs has is to remove the problem known as moral hazard. Put simply, if I am confident that everyone else will obey the laws of traffic, then I am more likely to take chances. If everyone thinks this way, then the likelihood of accidents may increase. By removing some of the certainty associated with others behavior, people may decide to be more careful themselves. Does it work that way?
The result is that drivers find themselves enclosed by a corset of prescriptions, so that they develop a kind of tunnel vision: They're constantly in search of their own advantage, and their good manners go out the window.
The new traffic model's advocates believe the only way out of this vicious circle is to give drivers more liberty and encourage them to take responsibility for themselves. They demand streets like those during the Middle Ages, when horse-drawn chariots, handcarts and people scurried about in a completely unregulated fashion. The new model's proponents envision today's drivers and pedestrians blending into a colorful and peaceful traffic stream.
It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.
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Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.
Hmmmm...think this would work on the D.C. beltway?