#505 No Stopping

So I’m reading this article. And it details research done recently by urban engineers to increase traffic safety by decreasing traffic safety signs. Seems there are fewer fatalities—and fewer injuries period—in places where people perceive they are in danger. Flying blind makes people fly slower. Worrying about what wacko’s gonna come barreling out of the next intersection makes everyone more cautious. When everyone is more cautious, traffic speeds go down, and accidents along with them. The fact is, there are always going to be one or two arrogant idiots that drive as if they own the road. And most of them seem to have grouped in LA. But the article says London is actually a safer place to drive where traffic signs have been minimized. Stripping an area in Kensington of excess lights and signage has reduced traffic-related casualties by 43 percent.
It all has to do with a biological concept called risk compensation effect; animals tend to adjust their behavior to compensate for perceived risk. Which is one reason taxi drivers with anti-lock brakes drive faster and wearers of bicycle helmets get struck down more. Okay, it’s because the bicyclists are more annoying so other people just feel like they have to hit them. Really, bike helmets are so goofy looking they just scream out “fifty points!” Sorry. I’m bitter. A bicyc-hole hit-and-runned my car the other day and cost me 500 bucks on my collision deductible. He didn’t even smudge his spandex.
So I guess this means what we’ve all known all along. Laws just make law-abiding people go the long way, criminals still jaywalk. So you might as well assume everyone’s a criminal and give our valuable streetside space back to the signs that mean something—those little stick-up ones advertising the next furniture sale. Now there’s a reason to speed through the intersection. I’m a little worried about the whole notion of caution increasing with perceived risk though. Why do people jump green lights and race through yellows then? But it does explain why teenagers get in more accidents. They think the road is actually safer than it is because they naively assume adults respect the rules.
America, ya gotta love it