Traffic engineer Hans Monderman is proposing quite a feat for Toronto!

No street signs, street lights, NO RULES!

What he has done with intersections all over Holland — and even on a section of Kensington High Street in London — is abolish the rules. No more speed limits, no traffic lights, not even any curbs to separate sidewalk and road.
Monderman says this scares drivers so much they slow down and move carefully to avoid hitting anyone.

I think sounds a bit crazy but has definite potential. Traffic is insane as it is in the T-Dot.
it
The naked streets project has resulted in a 60 per cent drop in accidents involving pedestrians. Monderman says that's because it appeals to the human ability to collectively solve problems.

What do you guys think?

Chaos or logic?

Expert Porpses 'Naked Streets' for Toronto

Personally I think it is a horrible idea. It only takes that one careless driver to take out a fleet of school children.

True, but it only takes one careless driver to take out a fleet of children with road rules too. People get hit everyday in cities with street lights, stop signs etc. Not saying no rules is a good idea, but I'm not sure it's that bad either. I think his point is people take much more care when they have to make their own decisions, pay more attention etc.

The concept does make sense to me, it's just hard to imagine life w/out 'rules'.

i think it'd be bad at first but may get better with time. here in the USA when a street light goes out traffic is all backed up. and sometimes people will just go right through if they don't see red. downtown becomes complete gridlock when it loses power. so from what i've seen, i don't think it would work well but if people get used to it, maybe it would improve over time.

When power goes people still expect that they'll be rules. If it were Naked Streets the whole concept of driving would be different. I think driving would be registered differently, in a whole new way. Having to make decisions on your own instead of being told what to do or be like a sheep increases your brain activity quite a bit. I think people who commute every day are just out there like robots, driving along, not truly paying attention. Naked Streets doesn't give the option to not (really) pay attention. It forces you to pay alot of attention to every move you make, therefore largely increasing awareness.

I'm just playing devil's advocate. After thinking (and talking) about the concept quite a bit, I think most people agree that the concept is brilliant but that it wouldn't work in our society.

Very interesting.

I know while driving in Thailand where there are few speed cameras etc, I drive to suit the conditions and feel much more comfortable and relaxed.

When driving in parts of Australia I have to drive keeping an eye out for cameras, cops, etc. I can't actually concentrate on the road so much as I am scared I may slip over the speed limit by a few km/hr.


So????

Maybe. Worth checking into more and experimenting with.

With stats like a 60% drop in accidents where Naked Streets has been implemented is pretty impressive.

Drive.com Article about Naked Streets

Does the 60% drop have anything to do with the cyclists being driven off of the road in fear of their safety?

I hope not!

It all depends on the society. The Dutch are very considerate & cooperative, so it works there. Parts of Canada are like that, so it would be little or no problem. But in the US, everyone would be killing each other, claiming "It's my right!"

No doubt, too true.

Did they ever implement this in Toronto?

I'm all for it. But yes, I agree, if one person dies or is badly injured because of it, it'll be back to the old way.