Naked streets - Introduction

Signs, lines, speed bumps, traffic lights, chicanes: all along our streets and at every junction are measures to try to make drivers slow down, draw our attention to hazards, and control traffic flow.

However, some researchers argue that they're not necessarily the best way to manage traffic and, in many cases, can actually distract drivers' attention from the road and cause the accidents they're intended to prevent.

Cutting clutter
'A high density of visual clutter slows down the search times for important visual information, and makes it harder for drivers to pick out traffic lights and other safety signs', said the Campaign to Protect Rural England two years ago, noting a ridiculous 45 signs per mile on the B3006 in Hampshire.

The big buzz-words in traffic management in recent years have included 'naked streets' and 'shared space'. Pioneering schemes in the Netherlands, which were the work of the late engineer Hans Monderman, have been hugely influential, inspiring the calming of traffic through psychological rather than physical means.

Monderman's basic principle was that drivers and other road users needed to pay better attention to each other – engaging eye contact, rather than blindly obeying signs or signals.

In more than 100 shared-space zones across the Netherlands, he ordered the removal of kerbs, traffic lights, pedestrian barriers and even road markings, taking away differentiation between road and pavement, and replacing traffic lights with roundabouts at busy junctions.

Cutting out speed bumps also meant less noise, more free-flowing traffic and fewer emissions, as well as reducing the risk of damage to vehicles and of impeding emergency services vehicles.