Do you think that naked roads are good or bad?

[waynne]

Naked roads are hailed as the answer to all of our traffic and driving woes. The basic premise of a naked road is that all road markings, signs, traffic lights etc are removed. All traffic calming measures, barriers, cycle lanes and even pedestrian area markings are removed.

This sounds like chaos and anarchy but the reality of the situation is that motorists wake up. They are no longer cukooned in a safe unthinking stream of traffic they are forced to pay very careful attention. In a number of trials the frequency of accidents and incidents was reduced by upto a third and the speed of traffic is reduced by around 4 mph - a big plus all round.

No-one knows for sure the long term implications and the trials continue. It is possible that when the novelty wears off drivers will again start going with the flow in an unthinking manner and the incident of accidents will increase as unfamiliar drivers thread their way through the local traffic. So in short as far as I'm concerned the jury is still out but it is an intriguing notion that could well catch on.

What do you think about naked roads then?

[HDi fun]

This sounds like the A4/A355 intersection in Slough in 1990 when significant road works were in progress. The junction was transformed overnight. As soon as the work completed it ground to a halt as usual.

So, for me, let's try it.

[waynne]

I think anything is better than the usual traffic calming methods.

[Jim]

There is one not that far away from me, got to admit it does get you thinking a bit more but you eventually just get used to it

[fingers]

I think this would only work untill people got use to it and the novelty wore off, and in certain places it would make things worse. They have just re-surfaced the road in our local high street andit was chaos untill they painted the markings again. People round here have trouble staying on their side of the road as it is.