'Home zones' cut serious road casualties by 30-70%.

The Dutch have been turning their streets into ‘home zones’ for over 20 years. There are now more than 6,500. A ‘home zone’ is a residential area where:

• cars do not have priority over pedestrians or cyclists

• the speed limit is walking pace

• there are no kerbs - it’s a shared space

• cars often park at right angles to the street, leaving very small gaps for traffic to pass

• there are children’s slides, rocking horses and other play equipment, as well as communal dining tables, tree and flower tubs in the middle of the street

They result in:

• a substantial rise in community spirit

• much increased safety and opportunities for unsupervised play for children

• much greater security and support for old people and, interestingly,

• hugely increased demand for houses in the zones

The most successful ‘home zones’ are those initiated by the community, which then works with the town council to create the best design. The least successful were those imposed from above.

Not all residential streets are suitable for ‘home zoning’, but can be traffic-calmed and given 20mph speed limits.

Such measures cost the Dutch Government the equivalent of £1.60 per person per year. In 2000, the UK spent just 10 pence per person on traffic-calming measures.

Ed.- In 2000, the UK Government admitted to a definite 321,000 road accidents a year, but cautioned that under-reporting could increase this by another half. Independent research also suggested it could be much higher (Times 6.3.00 p4). London’s NHS trusts alone spend £94 million on road traffic accidents and £7 million on illnesses directly related to traffic.

The Vauban community development of 280 new homes on 94 acres (in Freiburg, Germany) banned cars within its limits. People travel by cycle or on foot. A few residents keep a car garaged just outside the project’s boundaries.

Vauban resident Ruthild Haage-Rapp commented, “The children play in the street. You can stand by your kitchen window without all the noise from the street. Then the inconvenience is worth it".

Germany has 20 car-free living projects in various stages of development. Holland has a 600-apartment project in Amsterdam, Austria a project in Vienna, Scotland a project outside Edinburgh.