Shared space - a panacea?

The Horsham based cycling blog has an interesting piece on Shared Space. Focusing on Exhibition Road, he shows why the current scheme converting it to shared space will be a failure. Apparently but unsurprisingly, the research shows that shared space ceases to be shared when the traffic level rises above somewhere between one and three cars per minute. The backers of these schemes somehow just wish away the traffic, take their fees, then move on to the next scheme.

Watching the video taken on Sloane Square shows nothing more than a road with a well positioned traffic hump and some nice paving. Who could disapprove of nice paving, or a hump to slow down traffic in such a place, but watch the video to see who is boss in the "shared" area.

As long as Network Assurance reigns supreme at Transport for London and at City Hall, these schemes do nothing but leave people baffled as to why these things can be made to work in Europe, but not here.