There is a residential neighbourhood in Spokane where there are no signs, other than street names at each corner.
There are no speed limit signs, no yield signs and no stop signs.
Drivers proceed carefully down the roads, watching for children and pedestrians. When they reach intersections, they creep through, scanning for other vehicles on their left and right.
It's counterintuitive but there is a growing trend among traffic engineers and signage experts to eliminate all but the most essential signs, not just on city streets but in retail environments as well.
Studies have shown that drivers pay more attention when there are no signs or working traffic lights at intersections.
Local drivers proceeding through the roundabout on the north end of the Cameron Street bridge move quickly when there are no other vehicles around but proceed more cautiously when there are other vehicles present, particularly when they see drivers entering the roundabout from other directions.
That's a situation where design, not signs, encourages safer driving behaviour.
The same thing happens at an intersection with traffic lights blinking yellow or red. Drivers slow down, look carefully to their left and right, check for pedestrians and look ahead to see if anyone from the opposite direction might be turning left into their path, before proceeding.
In other words, without clear direction, drivers are more attentive and move through danger areas like intersections more cautiously.
Smart retailers understand better than anyone that less is more when it comes to signs. Without directional signs, shoppers will move through a store slowly, looking carefully for items they want. During that search, they might find something else they want to buy. The shopper might also stop to talk to a store employee and ask for directions, allowing the store to provide extra service. Both outcomes are desirable from a retail standpoint.
Signs threatening customers with criminal prosecution if they're caught shoplifting is hardly an inviting tone so most stores have put away those signs because they don't work anyway. The best way to change shopper behavior, retailers have found, is not with signs but with design. Stores are laid out to encourage spending and discourage theft.
Streets are not stores but some of the same psychology is still at work.
Speed limit signs rarely work and are often outright ignored, as any regular driver on the Hart Highway from the John Hart bridge to Austin Road or driving up Peden Hill on Highway 16 can attest. Just because the signs say 60 or 70 doesn't mean drivers obey. It's the design of the highways that encourage drivers to ignore the speed limit signs. The wider lanes allow for faster driving and easier passing of slower vehicles.
In residential areas, more progressive people-friendly neighbourhoods use speed bumps (elevated potholes, if you will) as a design feature to get people to slow down and watch for pedestrians, copying a common practice used by retailers to control traffic in their parking lots.
Design, not signs, are the best way to communicate essential information to drivers.
The changes on Winnipeg Street, turning it from a four-lane, undivided street to three lanes, with a turning lane in the middle and proper bike lanes on the sides, should only be communicated to drivers with proper lines on the road.
Drivers expecting to sail down that stretch like they used to, heading to and from downtown, will suddenly have to slow down and pay attention to traffic. It's a clever use of design to reduce speed and improve safety in an area prone to vehicle and pedestrian accidents.
The same thought process went into the redesign of that notorious intersection of Domano Boulevard and Highway 16. Increasing the length of the merge lane, adding an extra left turn lane onto Domano and improving the sight lines improves safety in a way no amount of signs ever could.
Now if only every driver could remember the difference between a merge and a yield.
-- Managing editor, Neil Godbout
