Summary
KENSINGTON and Chelsea is remarkable among London boroughs for its uncluttered streets a result of its decision, in 2003, to dispense with surplus fixtures, including guard rails, white lines, signposts and different-coloured surface materials, and to combine traffic lights with lampposts. It now seems that the borough is also conspicuous for its road-safety record: despite the Department for Transport's warnings that the changes could endanger pedestrians, accidents in Kensington High Street have fallen from 71 a year to just 40. With fewer signs and railings it appears that both pedestrians and cars behave more responsibly. Pedestrians are conscious that they can cross the road almost anywhere and do so prudently; cars look out for pedestrians more than they would otherwise. It is a lesson that other councils hitherto fixated by their pedestrian railings, complex crossing points and bossy signage may well follow. Indeed many overseas authorities have come to Kensington to learn by example.
The lessons of this experiment will also be brought to bear on the great experiment that will take place in Exhibition Road, where the council plans to scrap distinctions between the pavements and the road.See the full content of this document
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Open Road
Effectively, the road...
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