Look back in anger

PB
1 Dec 2003
The Brow housing estate, Runcorn (photo: Paul Burall)

Traffic calming of the kind described in Julia Samson's article is not new: the pictures below come from 'Streets Ahead', published in 1979. The inability of British local authorities to learn and adopt best practice is scandalous, leaving thousands of people killed or injured in accidents caused by high speeds that should have been designed out of residential roads years ago.

The Brow housing estate, Runcorn (photo: Paul Burall)

The Brow, Britain's first shared-space road scheme, was built in Runcorn in the mid-1970s. Note the lack of separate footpaths and how road markings peter out soon after the junction with the main road.

Cul de sac in Warrington (photo: Paul Burral)

No driver entering this small 1970s cul-de-sac in Warrington could fail to realise that this is no ordinary road.

Shared space road, Woonerf (photo: ANWB)

An early example of the shared space road designs that have proved so successful in the Netherlands.

Road sign, Woonerf (photo: ANWB)

The Woonerf sign tells drivers they are entering a shared space residential road in the Netherlands where the normal rules are reversed, with pedestrians having priority and parking is only allowed where indicated.

A Woonerf parking space (photo: ANWB)

A Woonerf Parking Bay.

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