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This was brought up on improvetheworld in January 2005 but just 
encountered a more succinct article about it:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=3D/news/2006/11/04/ntra...
.xml

Full text pasted here:

Is this the end of the road for traffic lights?

By David Millward
Last Updated: 1:11am GMT 04/11/2006  [that's 2006 Nov 04]

Most traffic lights should be torn up as they make roads less safe,
one of Europe's leading road engineers said yesterday.

Hans Monderman, a traffic planner involved in a Brussels-backed
project known as Shared Space, said that taking lights away helped
motorists, cyclists and pedestrians to co-exist more happily and
safely.

   [People going round a roundabout]
  [Road users take more care in Drachten as signs have been removed]

Residents of the northern Dutch town of Drachten have already been
used as guinea-pigs in an experiment which has seen nearly all the
traffic lights stripped from their streets.

Only three of the 15 sets in the town of 50,000 remain and they will
be gone within a couple of years.

The project is the brainchild of Mr Monderman, and the town has seen
some remarkable results. There used to be a road death every three
years but there have been none since the traffic light removal started
seven years ago.

There have been a few small collisions, but these are almost to be
encouraged, Mr Monderman explained. "We want small accidents, in order
to prevent serious ones in which people get hurt," he said yesterday.

"It works well because it is dangerous, which is exactly what we want.
But it shifts the emphasis away from the Government taking the risk,
to the driver being responsible for his or her own risk.

"We only want traffic lights where they are useful and I haven't found
anywhere where they are useful yet."

Mr Monderman, 61, compared his philosophy of motoring to an ice rink.
"Skaters work out things for themselves and it works wonderfully well.
I am not an anarchist, but I don't like rules which are ineffective
and street furniture tells people how to behave."

In short, if motorists are made more wary about how they drive, they
behave more carefully, he said.

The main junction in Drachten handles about 22,000 cars a day. Where
once there were traffic lights, there is a roundabout, an extended
cycle path and pedestrian area.

In the days of traffic lights, progress across the junction was slow
as cars stopped and started. Now tailbacks are almost unheard of   and
almost nobody toots a horn.

However, it is not the cars which seem to be involved in the greatest
conflict, it is the cyclists and pedestrians who seem to jostle for
space. Driving around Drachten, vehicles approach roundabouts with
considerable caution   traffic approaches from the left, but cyclists
come from either side.

Cyclists, almost none of whom bother with helmets, signal clearly at
junctions making sure motorists are aware of them.

Thus far, Drachten's drivers and pedestrians have voted the experiment
a success.

"I am used to it now," said Helena Spaanstra, 24. "You drive more
slowly and carefully, but somehow you seem to get around town
quicker."

Tony Ooostward, 70, was equally enthusiastic. "Everybody is learning.
I am a walker and now you are the boss at the crossroads, everyone
waits for you. But at the same time pedestrians wait until there are a
number wanting to cross at the same time."

Kanaan Jamal, 39, like many people in Drachten, uses a bike to get
around. "It is very smooth   a lot better than other towns," he said.
The consensus is that the creation of uncertainty by taking away the
lights and even in some places the road markings has worked

"Anybody who is new here doesn't know what to do. They don't know who
has priority, the car, bike or pedestrian. It's all confusing, but
because of that everybody takes care," Mr Jamal said.


-- 
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves  - -  search://"Daniel Reeves"
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