"The Dutch city of Drachten has undertaken an unusual experiment in traffic managment.� The roads serving forty-five thousand people are 'verkeersbordvrij': free of nearly all road signs.� Drahten is one of several European test sites for a traffic planning approach called 'unsafe is safe.'� The city has removed its traffic signs, parking meters, and even parking spaces.� The only rules are that drivers should yield to those on their right at an intersection, and that parked cars blocking others will be towed.
The result so far is counterintuitive: a dramatic improvement in vehicular safety.� Without signs to obey mechanically (or, as studies have shown, disobey seventy percent of the time), people are forced to drive more mindfully--operating their cars with more care and attention to surrounding circumstances."
From "The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It", Jonathan L. Zittrain, "Chapter 6: The Lessons of Wikipedia"
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