Road planners are examining whether Nottingham could benefit from radical traffic light-free junctions.
The measures are said to have eased congestion in other regions and were highlighted this week in a report by an economic thinktank.
The Institute of Economic Affairs study argued removing most of the UK’s traffic light systems would ease congestion and even improve safety.
Reacting to the report’s claims, Nottingham City Council said it is looking at how the city could use schemes similar to ones in Kent and Somerset.
Councils there adopted a ‘shared space’ policy on some roads, which sees cars, bicycles and pedestrians mixing freely.
Steve Hunt, the authority’s head of traffic and safety, said: “We tend to install zebra crossings rather than signal-operated crossings where appropriate and look to reduce the number of traffic lights where alternative solutions have been found for road schemes associated with forthcoming regeneration works.
“The report points to real benefits of schemes like Ashford, Portishead and Poynton, however, these are complex traffic arrangements and we are looking at how we can benefit from these approaches in Nottingham.”
There’s been debate over the safety of the ‘no lights’ scheme in Kent
The first traffic light was the creation of Nottingham-born inventor John Peake Knight in 1868.
However the report by the Institute claims lights are damaging the economy and estimates that eighty per cent of them could be removed.
Mr Hunt added: “We approach each road re-design on a case-by-case basis and if traffic lights will help traffic flow and pedestrian safety, we will include them – if not, we won’t.”
The report’s example in Kent involved the town of Ashford, which created a lights-free ring road in 2008, involving paving instead of asphalt and giving equal priority to pedestrians an vehicles.
However, different sets of statistics have given contradictory pictures of how safe the scheme is, with some showing a fall in accidents and others a rise.
Neil Davies, is senior partner at Caddick Davies Solicitors, which has expertise in speeding and motoring offences.
Motorists have been giving their thoughts on which sets of lights they’d like to scrap on the Notts TV Facebook page
He regularly drives in Nottingham and says lights are sometimes a ‘necessary evil’, but added they could sometimes hamper safety as drivers don’t fully understand the law around them.
“Traffic lights are there for a practical perspective,” he said.
“Without them we would rely on motorists making their own judgements, which in some cases would lead to people forcing their way out, which causes accidents.
“Many people do not know the law that amber means stop, or that you need to stop before the white line. Perhaps the biggest issue with road safety is people not understanding the law.”
He added: “People shouldn’t have to break the law before they are educated by about the rules of the road.”
The authors of the report argue that when regulations are removed, which give some vehicles priority over others, drivers have more consideration for other drivers and pedestrians which improves road safety and allows for traffic to flow more smoothly.
