Experiment removing road signs reduces accidents

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In the German town of Bohmte all road signs and traffic lights were removed leading to a reduction in road accidents - 1st July 2008

The German town of Bohmte has scrapped road signs and traffic lights in a bid to see if it would reduce road accidents.

After the first month is was being hailed a success with not one pedestrian accident or vehicle accident.

This is in comparison to around seven serious crashes a month whilst road signs and traffic lights were present and in use.

Bohmte has 13,500 occupants and is situated in the Lower Saxony region of Germany. The roads were altered during 2007 with pavements and asphalt being removed leaving everything covered in cobblestones.

The scheme developed by Dutchman Hans Monderman and is backed by the European Union based on the 'Shared Space' concept.

This believes that by removing rules drivers are more considerate and have to negotiate behaviour between themselves through body signals, making them pay more attention to other drivers and pedestrians, hopefully reducing the number of road accidents.

Early indications are that it is working.