improving traffic safety by getting rid of traffic rules

Bohmte, Germany has created a regulation-free zone in the middle of the city in order to improve traffic safety. Aside from a 30mph speed limit (standard inside city limits) and an obligation to yield to the right, there will be no traffic lights, no signs, no parking spaces. The idea is that shocking people out of their comfort zone by forcing them to "share space" will create more conscientious drivers. Or, as the deputy mayor puts it: "Generally speaking, what we want is for people to be confused....When they're confused, they'll be more alert and drive more carefully."

How well does it work?

So, far, perhaps not as well as the authorities believe:

Asked to give a personal demonstration, Hilbricht put Bohmte's lack of rules to the test. Picking a random spot, he bravely stepped into oncoming traffic and across the road -- an act that could have earned him a fine pretty much anywhere else in Germany.

Cars immediately slowed down and gave Hilbricht a wide berth, although he admitted that his police uniform may have worked to his advantage.

When a reporter tried the same thing, two approaching drivers barely hit their brakes, including one guy in a van who babbled away on his cellphone as he sped past.

However, it seems to have worked in other places:

In Haren, the Netherlands, for example, the number of accidents at one intersection dropped by 95 percent, from 200 a year to about 10, Hilbricht said

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Interestingly, and by no conscious decision as far as I can tell, much of Boston resembles a "regulation free" zone. You can never find a street sign, and the lane markers, if they every existed, have long since worn away. I'm not sure that it leads to safer driving. Mostly it makes one more stressed out! I will say, though, that New York, which is de facto a regulation-free zone in most of Manhattan, manages to work because you must assume that the person in front of you is going to slam on the brakes in order to double park, and that the taxi to your right will cut you off. Since everyone goes with the flow, there seems to be a surpisingly low number of accidents.