Do we have too many traffic signals? Would our roads be safer without them?

It sounds counterintuitive, and it may not work in a city the size of Baltimore, but there has been a long-term experiment in a city north of Brussels, Belgium, that has actually worked. The city of 50,000 people removed all but three of its traffic lights (there were only 15 to start with) and has found that there are fewer serious crashes in the seven years since they were removed. Interestingly, the innovator of the project tells the U.K. Telegraph newspaper that, “It works well because it is dangerous, which is exactly what we want. But it shifts the emphasis away from the government taking the risk, to the driver being responsible for his or her own risk. We only want traffic lights where they are useful, and I haven?t found anywhere where they are useful yet.”