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From: ROCKETBOOM
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  • In America, no traffic lights would end the lives of millions.

  • That guitar accompaniment during the video is great, nice song Uncle!! You should get your music in some more tv programs, it would work well! :-)

  • this just goes to prove, if you let people get on with their own thing society works far better... if you have governments who use violence to tell everyone what to do, you end up with fascist governments & tyranny.

  • and then they turned the lights back on.

  • NO WAY! people are driving on the wrong side of the road! haha!

  • Traffic signals are a part of modern society. So suck it up.

  • well its not gunna work every where but if it works in all the smaller towns then just think of how much money it would save

  • This happens when traffic lights break down too. Everyone goes through nicely and there are no queues.

    This is because lights make people wait, even if there's no need top wait, but without lights, you can go as soon as the way is clear (a bit like at a roundabout too).

  • @250Trojan Also there's the false sense of security that traffic lights create. The lights kind of give the idea that they're doing all the safety stuff for the drivers so the drivers don't have to do it themselves, when that's far from the truth. Without the traffic lights, drivers are forced to use their initiative to cross the junction safely and so the chance of a crash due to driver carelessness is reduced. To put it simply, traffic lights can have the opposite effect to that desired.

  • ANARCHY

  • ..and when some idiot sidelines you without looking, then you're both out of the way.

  • It works because when there's no one there you just go, then you're out of the way.

  • England is going backwards then. They figure out it's better to be like most other countries where they don't have traffic lights by default. lol

  • @JauntyMellifluous have you seen the state of the cars etc in turkey, i lived over there for 8+months and pretty much ever car had a dent, and you see bumps and crashes most days.

  • try this in boston im sure it will work just fine : P

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  • Some day we will look back at the period from the 16th century and refer to it as the Age of the State, a barbaric and backwards period. Spontaneous order is vastly superior to central planning, in every way, but we have been trained to fear our fellow man. 

  • @032125 You think as a healthy adult. Very few of us around which means we have a lot of work to do.

  • Does anyone see the connection here in regards to the state? Everyone these days seems to think that chaos would ensue if we didnt have the state to direct things but in fact the opposite occurs. People have just gotten so used to authority that they cant even imagine the concept of liberty. I think Milton Friedman said it best, "Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself."

  • the little guy from school said "Its easier to cross without traffic lights" wtf????

  • Thats not going to last long in the UK, sooner or later people are going to be like "oh piss off you tosser, I have the right of way, arsehole" in fact its ussually like that with traffic lights, so this will just lead to more road rage!

  • @stevebloodymckenna You think like a child. You seem to be unable to grasp that in this scenario THERE IS NO RIGHT OF WAY FOR ANYBODY! Perhaps YOU would behave like a spoiled, destructive, narcissistic ass but how many of YOUR countrymen and women do you see behaving as YOU claim others will? Perhaps it is YOU that needs some growing up? Study anarchy, not chaos, anarchy.

  • It's a proven fact that removing traffic lights in certain places helps the flow of traffic. If towns were DESIGNED to have roads without traffic lights you would have an even better result.

  • I was hoping for more of a Somerset accent, with the sterotypical rhotic pronunciation.

  • Traffic lights are hazardous. Drivers who have the green light habitually fail to exercise caution at intersections. Where I live, cars "caravan" through the intersection after the light turns red, because they know they will have to wait a long time if they do not. It is very common to see drivers accelerate and blast through intersections after the light has turned yellow.

    I saw a young mother leaving the scene where her son was killed on his bicycle by a driver who had the green light.

  • Interesting research, great idea!

  • i think very soon, people will learn to be less altruistic, adopting a "fuck you get outof my way or be involved in an accident" mentality.

    They have put a lot of round-abouts in my city, and people have learned to approach them at high speed so that other people freak out and get outof your way. It's just a way of speeding up assholes, at the expense of everyone else.

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  • I want my children to have british accents..it's sounds so nice and proper. lol

  • They also should get rid of those fricken metal barriers on every street that stop us pedestrians from crossing where the hell we choose. England is becoming like a communist country with all the petty regulations.

  • epic win?!

  • Humph! A car accident waiting to happen. 

  • This would not work, here in the U.S.A. Aggression, & out doing the other guy, are held up as great virtues, & the people that they do better than, are looked down upon, & despised as "losers;" not at all respected, but thought to deserve a worst lot in life. It's a very sick society. 8(

  • 5/19/13 expect us

  • So the blind just avoided it from the get go, none bothered to see if it'd work? With a sighted friend to ensure they had a safe clearing/stopped vehicles... not standing right with em, just nearby able to give verbals cues.

  • thats the way it works in asia^^

  • a world of four ways!! no thanks

  • Anarachy- 1, Establishment- 0

  • Oh shit, I saw the baby in that minivan in what would be the driver's seat in the states. Mini panic attack.

  • well there is a lot of benefits to not having traffic lights. save money on light bulbs, save city workers time installing and replacing them, save electricity. watch the video of the traffic jam in Shanghai. they seem to do well with it and they have 10x the amount of traffic every day. england turned off the lights as a test to see how it would work out so they could save all the expenses.

  • @theafrodude22 also how many times were u stuck at a light and even though there was no traffic for 2 mins straight you didnt run the red light because it is against the law. Save time, Save Money, Save resources. vote no on traffic lights!

  • It seems like the traffic lights must have been badly programmed, possibly lacking appropriate sensors. I don't believe that indivual decision making can coordinate a whole system better than a centrally controlled one. You would have to stop or slow at every intersection that a car could be near.

  • the last time the lights went out in NYC drivers were generally cool, traffic flow was good and everyone was courteous

  • 0:09-0:27 hey look who forgot to blur something!!! haha :-)

  • this is why we really, really, really need to saw off the leg of anyone who brake on the highway. by braking, they create a virtual red stop light right there

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  • In Naples they have been doing this since many years. The difference is that there the traffic lights is always turn on. :)

  • I lived in Cairo, Egypt a while back, 20 million people and no traffic lights worked fine there. But, is getting there in a quarter of the time worth the increased risk?

  • Actually It might work: /watch?v=T8Doy_7sOoM

  • Wouldn't this drastically increase car accidents and pedestrians getting hit?

  • yes there probly be a few accidents

  • Accidents maybe?

  • Someone pleeease Auto-Tune this! It would be hilarious~ especially the old lady! Do it!

  • It doesn't always have to be all or nothing, they could take out some lights and leave other more important ones. I'm no engineer, just an idea.

  • This would not work in the US. People would drive at shit bat speeds constantly.

  • @deilax damn right lol

  • @deilax

    Totally agree.

    LOS

    MOTHERFUCKING

    ANGELES

    THE UNOFFICIAL AMERICAN AUTOBAHN

  • @deilax Horse shit. I can't believe your comment was thumbed up.

    This is the problem with the human race, the video presents incontrovertible proof that no traffic lights is better and all they can do is ignore it and make an excuse for why it would be impossible in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if you're a plant sent by the stop light manufacturing contractor. Dickhead.

  • @DeimosSaturn You mad bro? Seriously? Do you live in the US or are you just throwing out conjectures left and right?

    We race from light to light, literally, trying to beat Yellow lights and get nothing but greens. When a traffic light goes out, and they do, Americans have the tendency to just go and not care about others who are waiting and have been waiting for there turn. Something like this in the US will only result in car wrecks or pedestrians being hit. No American will disagree with me.

  • @deilax U a cum eater, bro?

    In fact I do live in the US and I drove during the north east coast black out. It wasn't total chaos. There were no reports of massive traffic jams in Manhattan. It's the selfishness that causes the emergent order. It's called Chaos Theory, numb nuts. This same experiment has been repeated in other parts of the world as well. So go eat dicks.

  • @DeimosSaturn You need to take a chill pill and he's right. Something like this would only result in wrecks and people getting hurt. The US road system is not these cluster fuck intersections or roundabouts. Its all highways and grid-systems.

  • @DeimosSaturn No this video is an anecdotal trial. It is not controlled or tried under varying conditions. It seems like something worth checking out but I doubt it will pan out.

  • @michalchik A simple google search for "no traffic lights" decimates all of your religious pro-traffic light ideology. Many cities in different countries around the world have and will continue to eliminate traffic lights. It's been proven in computer simulations and in real life over and over and over again. Not just in this one video.

  • @DeimosSaturn You're the worst Troll ever.

    Seriously am I supposed to be insulted by or laugh at your childish demeanor?

  • @deilax If you don't like how adults talk to each other, go ask mommy to cover your eyes.

  • @DeimosSaturn I looked under "no traffic lights" in regular the regular web and under Google scholar and did not come up with much. A couple more places tried it at select intersections. Can you refer me to the name of any specific systematic study of the issue? I am not pro or anti traffic light, please reread my message. I was just saying that this video is insufficient evidence to prove anything.

  • @michalchik "a SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH for 'no traffic lights' "

    SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH

    SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH

    There are a number of news reports from different cities around the world that have turned off traffic lights ONLY to see improved traffic conditions. ONLY improved traffic conditions. ONLY improved traffic conditions.

    This is PROOF OF CONCEPT. Easily falsifiable if only a proper across-the-board study could be conducted.

  • @DeimosSaturn As I have already said.

    1) This is interesting and should be investigated further.

    2) I did a Google search both web (simple) and scholar and found nothing but a few isolated accounts of it being tried at other intersections.

    No quantitative systematic controlled studies. If you can give me the name and authors of any such study I would be grateful. Even computer simulations or mathematical models would be interesting. Simple Google searches are just not turning up evidence.

  • @deilax

    Everyone thinks that about their own country. Shitty excuse imo.

  • @deilax

    And run over whatever's in there away. Visit LA or Sacramento and you'll see the fucked up way people drive. You'd think they were escaping something.

  • @AzureFlameElk people in LA drive good it is all the out of town visiting farm country people that mess up everything for us city dwellers !

  • @theafrodude22

    That might be a great argument if I haven't actually SEEN people drive in LA. No one is considerate or safe. Just because you get somewhere 5 minutes faster doesn't make it a good idea. I'd rather get somewhere at all then did because some asshole couldn't wake up a bit earlier for work.

  • @AzureFlameElk like i said before all the LA people are very considerate and safe, it is just all those visiting out of towners who are always in a rush that leave traffic a bit to be desired. : ) PS: midnight driving is best in LA no traffic.

  • @deilax dude have you never been in the US? They DONT have this in the US. Not in California at least.

  • @deilax Drivers in the UK can be pretty crazy too. I do think, though, that this kind of system is better suited to smaller towns, not big cities.

  • @deilax Drivers cannot speed like that if there are no traffic lights. They are compelled to use their eyes and ears and exercise caution.

  • @deilax I know your type. You are the ones putting up the traffic lights every 10 feet because you don't have enough driving skills to operate your vehicle. I got a driving record for speed and everything else. Never caused an accident and only one caused by another in 15 years. It's not the speed; it's the fact that your brain isn't working properly. Oh yeah and when you're turning USE a blinker. When it says merge left, use your blinker and merge left and stop being a reckless driver.

  • @MadNoys1 Yes, I love driving my WRX from light to light at a crawl. It's just so exhilarating.

    Way to assume and make an ass out of yourself.

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  • @deilax So said the doubters and statists in every single case where this has worked; and in every case they were wrong. They predicted chaos and violence, but got peace and the natural order. You assume that because something is, it must always be so.

  • @032125 Personal responsibility is deeply feared thanks to the indoctrination centers we call schools. Imagine schools teaching anarchy! Most all "teachers" upon hearing anarchy hear chaos instead.

  • @deilax not only the United States, the fucking rest of the world just image the final purpose of the lighs is to prevent ACCIDENTS sorry in most cases and situation is a stupid idea

  • @deilax You see a thing work that is counter intuitive and you use the same thought process that is disproved by what you are seeing? Good deep thoughtfulness you display here!

  • i love this idea

  • It clearly had a profound effect. Hopefully this will get people thinking. (:

  • lights out in china = shitstorm

  • @hobo59 The original scheme for these lights and landscaping cost ... £800,000!!!!!! and took about 6 months of chaos to implement. Before there was not a problem and there were simple mini roundabouts (traffic circles).

    Its now back to the original mini roundabouts.

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  • First i tought oh theres noone in the cars... Then i remembered the driver seat is at the right side >.<

  • It is so wonderful to see things working BETTER without lights.

  • less regulation? less gov interference? . .. .made things. . .better? no way whodve ever guessed . . .im flabbergasted . . .that people can, at a certain age, take care of their own-damn-selves and make good decisions when driving i mean really, were each of them THAT surprised people are capible of thought while on the road?

  • @jonestheinsomniac they were sourprised cuz the gov's rules take away individual thought and render citizens unable to think by themselves

    remember: its easier to follow instructions than to think of a way to do things, and dumb rules require dumb people

  • Seems like a nice idea, but the world is full of people who will ruin it.

  • no boobs in this video?

    Shame.

  • i bet he cant see a dentist lol 3:23 im going to hell

  • wow..einsteins.

  • things like this do tend to work in the short term. after a while, people start gaming the system.

  • @pyr666 actually in my city traffic lights are turned off after 5pm and everything runs MUCH smoother. it's been like this for nearly 2 years and its still working fine so...

  • @hautenarcissism

    do you live in a major city?

  • @pyr666 yes.

  • How do you "game" what does not exist? In this scenario there IS no system to scam. Your thinking along the lines a child would as in if I crash I'm insured so i lose nothing. Daddy will fix it. This thought pattern is well ingrained in irresponsible people not used to taking care of themselves but relying on "insurance" of all manner and artificial "rules" that were and are DESIGNED to eliminate higher human interaction. Simply put when mans diversionary "laws" are gone LOVE BECOMES LAW!

  • For some reason this makes me smile :)

  • this is going to be the biggest subject on topgear's first episode for the coming season

  • Scary.

    Its great everyone there is so polite but where I live people are insane. Weaving in and out of traffic, not yielding for no one, always cutting each other off. Can see many accidents here in Austin, TX.

  • For this situation the Stop lights were not practical, good thing they got rid of them. I recommend roundabouts but they are limited to a certain amount of traffic.

    Also if it took 20 minutes to get the green light, why were the people not flooring it when it turned green?

  • Its just a matter of time before an accident

  • @Slixors

    Who cares, you can't avoid accidents.

    Accidents will always happen because humans make mistakes.

    But sooner or later computers will drive our cars and computers can't make mistakes.

  • @RedJoker

    with traffic lights the chance of accidents is reduced tremendously

    I like the idea of no traffic lights, but it simply isnt practical or safe in the long run

  • @Slixors stop signs arent traffic lights and they work.

  • @RedJoker computers can make mistakes however it is a lot less likely and it would be safer than a human driver

  • @graidstin the human wouldnt know the machine was making an error and then he or she would make more errors. the human mind thinks quicker and with better reasoning than a bunch of code that controls a light.

  • @RedJoker computers can EASILY make mistakes.

  • @riotriotriot55

    Explain me "easily" .... computers just do what you tell them so how should they make mistakes? They can't because they have a software which strictly says what they have to do.

    Traffic is just a matter of numbers and a computers can handle numbers 100000000000 faster than a human could ever do.

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  • @wilsbran

    Computers can also learn. Computers get more intelligent from year to year

    The "chaos" situations which can appear on a plane in the air are pretty simple to handle. If the engines of a plane fails a computer could probably handle the situation even better than a human because the computer can find the best solution in a second. Humans first have to take out their map,search for lading possibilities and so on.

  • @RedJoker but it's only a matter of time before the computer realizes that all human error could be eliminated by eliminating all humans.

  • @csycica

    You mean just like in I, Robot? ^^

    It will take a very very long time until computers are nearly as intelligent as we are

  • @RedJoker it thinks it is intelligent

  • @part2themovie So when, not if, there's an accident, what happens then?

  • @RedJoker Computers can make mistakes, its called errors. To think computers are perfect is naive.

  • @f4113nxangel

    They can't make mistakes because computers just do what we tell them. Computers don't get tired, can't be influenced by drugs and so on.

    If computers make errors, it's a software error produced by humans but computers just do what you tell them and nothing more.

  • the problem is not the traffic lights themselves, but the fact that they are just not that intelligent at the moment... they are put there because we are too stupid, impatient assholes sometimes that we cause accidents... so if we obey the "laws" no accidents would happen... in theory...

  • cool

  • This would NEVER work in Mexico City.

  • >Somerset County

    >County

    *kekeke!*

  • @KebertXela1992 Cunt.

  • @Smartboy7

    Wut?

  • All people need to do is pay attention to what's going on around them and no traffic lights would clearly work just fine.

  • @3:25 AHHHHHH!!!!!

  • only sick retards want to sit and wait at lights doing nothing, burning exhaust. , wasting time. finally round abouts are coming to canada. its nice to see.

    lights are pathetic human control , all lights should flash red/yellow.

    well done over there.

  • Society must be ready for it. Must be developer enough and smart enough. I saw some time ago that in Scandinavia in one city they took off all roads, people, bicycles and cars are on one road. And everybody was surprisingly happy .

  • Amazing!

  • This would work in a perfect world where everyone is polite and thinking straight and there are no drunk/drugged-up drivers and no one is in a hurry ....until that ONE goofball screws it up and causes a ten car pile-up and a couple of kids get crushed and a vehicle rolls over a few pedestrians.

    Is saving a few minutes of travel time a day worth the death of your child ? If you're not sure, ask the mother or father of a child who was killed in a sensless/preventable car accident.

  • @dovermoreno this happens with lights too

  • @jnthnbush Yes, I agree...but it's the "preventable" part I'm talking about. Thousands of people drive back home from the bars drunk and make it safely.....but that doesn't mean that we abolish the DUI laws cuz sooner or later....a crash IS gonna happen and someone is gonna get hurt....a crash that, maybe, could have been prevented.

  • Somehow, I think this is biased...

  • I have always believed that pedestrians have the right of way. . .always. . .people were here first. Why do normaly polite people act so badly behind the wheel?

  • I like it! :)

  • This would not work in America.

  • @EvilBunniexxx There are plenty of places here where there are not lights or even stop signs and it works out fine.

  • Just look at roads in India to see how traffic works without lights.

  • i thought this was very amazing, but was bracing for a crash the whole time >.<

  • austin power's father @ 3:24

  • I once saw an article about something like this in a city in the Netherlands. It is an interesting concept to force people to think for themselves and independently communicate like this. Melikes!

  • try this in new york or san francisco, see what happens

  • And there AREN'T 20 car pile ups in every single intersection?!! O__o (that's sure what would happen in america...)

  • It may help with traffic, but I almost guarantee that there would be more accidents overall.

  • BORING. why did i sub 2 this in the first place?

  • @MasterConsular

    stop complaining, unsubscribe, and move on. No wants to see you whine

  • @wiseye61 i subbed for KNow Your Meme. but so far i gets only tis crud :-(

  • @MasterConsular know your meme has its own channel now...

  • @ThePiersonettes awh ur right! i jus checkeded it, now i can unsub this less-than-straight channel and save myself the sub-floods. thnx ;D

  • It works on Cambodia and Vietnam.

  • It's just awesome that rocketboom shows us this. Feels like we're slowly but steadily going in the right direction

  • This won't work in America, the same way it isn't working in India

  • Too bad that in america, not every woman has common sense...

  • En México no pasaría esto. Pinche país culero.

  • Great now I have no excuse for being late to work

  • Lights are ok . Skip da CARS instead !

  • Wow! Car accidents really didn't occur during this experiment? This may have been all honky dory and smooth sailing in this quaint little British town, but I seriously doubt this would be the case as depicted in this video in the highly-aggressive, road rage-filled United States -- home of "flipping the bird" to fellow travelers.

  • It looks like organized chaos but everything seems to be going well at the moment. One needs to look at the risks for both drivers and pedestrians and it may take a while to determine the safest policy. The key question is whether or not drivers will yield the right of way when they ought to.

  • whoa this is impossibly cool! :O