Posted By J Knight Part of the problem with that way of thinking is vicarious liability; its all every well the employer passing responsibility back to the workforce, but its still the employer who ends up in Court. And this comes back to control, and who dictates pace, working practices, conditions and so on. If you are driving you are reasonably autonomous, if you are operating a lathe on piece work you aren't, John

Posted By Jonathan Breeze I have read about this Dutch experiment and think it begs the following question: How much of the improvement is due to the 'novelty' of the idea and how much is due to empowering the motorist? I'm fairly sure that if an unmarked crossroad was marked we would also see a reduction in accidents. We need some sort comparative study I feel with the following factors all considered: Cross roads with no markings (long term); Cross roads with marked priorities (long term); Cross roads with markings recently installed; and Cross road with markings recently removed.

Posted By Pete48 I think Jonathan has identified the potential flaw in this approach. Firstly if you make such fundamental changes to the "accepted norms" you would logically expect a change in "operating modes" and the resultant failure patterns such as accidents. Secondly, behaviour will adapt and or adopt the longer the new way is maintained and assumptions will start to be made that will inevitably lead to failures. Just consider the difference in driving along a road with no indication at every junction as to priority. To begin with, everyone will slow almost to a stop, look carefully, smile sweetly and move at a different pace. Fast forward a year and by now a pattern has emerged that at crossroads B the main peak time flow of traffic is route 2 to 4 due to both the density of traffic on that route and the lack of conflicting traffic on other routes. What behaviour pattern would you predict now? Slowly but surely that operating mode will become second nature, speed on that route will increase, readiness to intervene and stop safely will diminish and bang! Same goes for industrial safety control, it has taken two hundred years to get to where we are re things like guarding. Remember we are there because the human condition needs to be protected from itself sometimes, let alone external pressures such as production targets. I am in favour of reducing street signs, markings, furniture and other paraphernalia to an absolute minimum. Keep them to those required to assist traffic flow and key safety markings. How many of you find the latest reflective sign so bright with glare that they actually stop you seeing the way ahead in some locations? I would predict that accidents may fall initially but then we would see a rise in both the minor bump and the serious or fatal RTA. Try looking at the old photos of London or other major cities back in the early years of the 20th century.

Posted By Paul Leadbetter Something like this happened some years ago, in Oxford Street, I think, when the traffic lights all failed. The traffic flow was much better! Paul