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Conventional Wisdom Meets Reality:
There Ought Not to be a Law

The "before" picture of an intersection near Bristol, England: Maximum traffic of 1700 cars per hour and about 300 pedestrians. Commute time for some people using the intersection over 20 minutes in rush hour traffic.

The "after" picture: Traffic flow increased to 2000 cars per hour, and still handles the 300 pedestrians. Commute time reduced to just 5 minutes. In the eight months since the change, there have only been two minor incidents, and not a single person (motorist or pedestrian) has been injured in an accident.

How did they do it? What new technology did they use to effect this miraculous change?

They took out the traffic conrol signals! Yes, you read that right, the traffic lights were removed. By removing all of the red, yellow and green lights, the motorists became more courteous, more cautious, and more sharing of the road way. In complete defiance of the conventional wisdom.

This experiment raises a lot of very interesting questions. First, do our present traffic laws accomplish what we want them to? Do they make us safer while making the roads efficient? Apparently not. Is the cost to the tax payer that funds installation of traffic signals justified?

But do these experimental results extend to other areas as well? Does this experiement not indicate that perhaps government regulation and intervention itself is misplaced? Would our society work more smoothly and would be be more contented without the intervention of government regualtion.

Justin Quinn, of the Ludwig von Mises Institute seems to think so, and I think he makes a good case. Iron clad? Maybe, maybe not. What do you think?

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Comments

Amy said…
so what about the blind?
October 7, 2010 at 7:48 AM
Tad Wimmer said…
An interesting question. If the Libertarian theory expressed on the LvMI blog holds, then they would be treated to the "right of first possession" just as anyone else using the intersection. So perhaps the real issue regarding the blind is how can the blind make themselves feel more secure?
October 13, 2010 at 9:00 AM
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