The future of urban roads may be one where motorists, pedestrians and cyclists act as one. Spaces where these usually segregated members of the population live -- or move -- by the same rules. Most importantly, these rules would be social, not formal, to befit the increasingly popular trend of 'shared space'.
"Shared space breaks the principle of segregation," says Ben Hamilton-Baillie, a street designer who [...] brought these spaces to the U.K., which now hosts more than any other country.
— cnn.com
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LOL
I must admit as a pedestrian that I like the idea of being "segregated" from, say, the hood of an Audi doing forty-five on a city street. And while I admire the look of that nice paving, I don't really want to become one with it. But that's just me.
This will no doubt be a principle feature of Lieberland.
When nobody clearly owns their piece of tarmac, you will have to become aware of all other users. You will simply not be racing through there when there's no clear demarcation because you cannot claim anything as your own, and therefore it will become safer. You will simply not assume that nobody will come in your personal traffic space, since they're already there.
The best example of this in the US is probably the space in front of the entrance of big box retail stores that is a part of the parking lot. Often cars are coming from speed limit 40+ mph streets into these shared zones, and they adjust their speed accordingly. I'm not saying that these are actually good spaces, but that there's precedent for shared human-car space.
+++quondam......Wouldn’t work here, where I live cars are used like weapons.
"Shared space ... where motorist and pedestrian act as one."
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