Final Project

http://prezi.com/qwsbf3hmv5hx/present/?auth_key=s4a4wcv&follow=hawk1opwi0y_

I chose to post this in a prezi form as opposed to the standard written form. For my project, I think that visuals convey the idea better than words alone. Feel free to comment with any questions you have regarding my project or with your opinion on whether or not this idea would work. Thus far, everyone I’ve spoken to or interviewed regarding this idea has been quite skeptical.

There are several videos in this project. I created two of them (the one with people’s ideas on how to improve an intersection and the one showing traffic in Madison). The others were found on youtube and show Monderman Shared Space Intersections. I highly recommend watching these ones, especially if you’re skeptical about these theories.

I’m sure there’s some kind of limit as to how populated an intersection can be if this is going to work. For example, Shared Space would probably not work in New York City. I do think it could work here in Madison, though. As you can see in my video(and are probably a part of every day), pedestrians, drivers and cyclists in Madison already interact quite a bit. However, they still ultimately follow the rules of right of way and of the signs.

The question of who is responsible if there is an accident came up when we discussed this in class. First of all, accidents are dramatically reduced in Shared Space intersections (see my introductory report for the statistics). Secondly, the idea of shared space isn’t to take away responsibility from people, but to give them more responsibility. Right now we have the idea that if we follow the rules, we’ll be just fine. If there are no rules, you’ll be much more cautious and whatever you do is your responsibility. Since everybody is paying much more attention, not only will there be fewer accidents, but there will be more reliable witnesses if an accident is to occur.

I think that by instituting something like this, we could reduce accidents, travel times and the amount of cars on the road (and therefore, the amount of oil being consumed). Traveling is a huge part of our day to day lives, but the system is not sustainable: we keep adding things to our roads. Less is more.  Changes need to be made. I hope this prezi provides you with a good understanding of how this works and of my plan for shared space in Madison.