[Any of the images can be clicked to enlarge.]
Last week, while
Storm Henry was howling through the north of Scotland, I went to
Edinburgh for the day to meet up with colleagues planning the Walk
Cycle Vote campaign.
Travelling by bus
from Inverness, gave me almost 4 hours each way to read the online
documents relating to the bill that Alexander Taylor's recently
lodged with the Scottish Parliament.
This bill “urges
the Scottish Government to place a moratorium on all shared space
schemes until safety and equality concerns have been addressed.”
It comes with 53
supporting documents of written evidence.
In truth, you don't
need to read much of this evidence to realise that shared space, as it's being
implemented in the UK, is a disaster for disabled people,
particularly those with sight loss.
If this issue is new
to you, a good place to start is with the “Sea of Change” video
that was premiered in the House of Lords at the end of 2013 and is
now available online.
Lord Holmes of
Richmond MBE (Chris Holmes), being blind himself, is a strong campaigner.
This page on his
website has many excellent links.
He published a very
readable report in July 2015
Accidents by Design:
The Holmes Report on “shared space” in the United Kingdom
Lord Holmes secured
a debate on this subject in the House of Lords 15 Oct 2015.
More recently,
Alexander (Sandy) Taylor and Margaret Hutchison gave evidence to the
Public Petitions Committee at the Scottish Parliament on 26 Jan 2016.
(The first 39 mins of this video.)
Something like
shared space had been attempted before in other places but the term
'shared space' originated with the Dutch traffic engineer, Johannes
(Hans) Mondermann (1945-2008).
He was born in
Leeuwarden (Friesland) and, as a traffic engineer, created shared
spaces in that area as well as Groningen and Drenthe – the three
Provinces in the north of the Netherlands.
His key philosophy
was that road users (pedestrians, drivers, cyclists) must negotiate
their way by interacting with each other. To bring about this change
in behaviour, all traffic controls such as traffic lights, lane
markings and kerbs are removed.
The idea is
attractive and has much to commend it but two serious problems need
to be resolved:
1 – Greatly
reduced motor traffic is a prerequisite for shared space to work.
Creating shared space should not be used in an attempt to reduce
motor traffic.
2 – Because
negotiation is expected to be mediated by eye-contact, navigating
shared space is impossible or very difficult for sight impaired
people and many other disabled people. These people have a continuing
need for controlled crossings and clear, uncluttered routes.
I'll end with some tenuously related thoughts.
The rabbit and duck
illusion (Kaninchen unde Ente) has been known for over 200 years old.
The same image can
be perceived in two distinct ways by the same observer at different
times.
Two groups can each
hold to one of these views with possible conflict.
The lack of clear
priority can result in shared space being viewed as either a pavement
(by pedestrians) or a roadway (by drivers) and consequent conflict
between the two groups.
Cyclists can end up
somewhere in between and disliked by both the others.
Like Mondermann, the
Dutch graphic artist, M. C. Escher, was also born in Leeuwarden.
At first glance his
print, Waterfall (1961), appears simply to show water falling down
two levels and over a waterwheel.
The water then flows
away down a zigzag channel but this mysteriously returns the water to
the top of the waterfall.
Focusing our
attention locally, there appears to be no problem with any individual
component. And, indeed, the individual components can all be built.
But, taken as a
whole, we know it can't be right as it contradicts the laws of
science. And if we had built the individual components, we'd find we
couldn't join them together.
This illustrates a
potential flaw in taking a tick-box approach to design.
The typical goals of
shared space are to have smooth traffic flow while simultaneously
allowing people to walk in and about the space. Without reducing
traffic flow, these are incompatible goals.
People are more likely to have heard about Mondrian than the similar
sounding Monderman.
Piet Mondrian
(1872-1944) was a Dutch artist who was born near Utrecht. During his
life he spent time in Amsterdam, Paris, London and finally New York.
A gallery of all his
work sorted by year:
His early paintings
are similar to the like of Van Gogh.
He then moves onto
more abstract representations of subjects like trees.
From 1918 onward he
produces the rectangular grids for which he's best known.
Many, such as (the
catchily titled) Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, are
characterised by grids of strong, black outlines around a few
coloured rectangles on a white background.
Reducing the
visibility of kerbs by making level surfaces and using variously
coloured pavings and setts may create a sense of place but it also
creates a space that is impossible for sight impaired people and
their guide dogs.
I feel another storm is coming.
Your comments are welcome.