Out of Town

Speed Hump

Cutting-edge European traffic calming techniques seem to be having a bit of an American zeitgeist moment. Two pieces of evidence:

By Aaron Naparstek

11:48 AM EST on November 21, 2006

Cutting-edge European traffic calming techniques seem to be having a bit of an American zeitgeist moment. Two pieces of evidence:

A German newspaper story about Hans Monderman, the Dutch traffic engineer who is, with great success, banishing signs, signals, stripes and all other forms of traffic governance at busy, complicated intersections earned a prominent link on the Drudge Report this weekend.

And a short film produced the Danish Road Safety Council has hit my e-mail inbox maybe a dozen times. Given the City of Copenhangen’s willingness to get creative in its transportation planning, I wasn’t sure at first if the film was real or a parody. But even if this is just a humorous public service announcement, it is indicative of yet another area where Danish transportation officials are way ahead of New York City’s — in the production of softcore traffic porn. Finally, I relent to the demands of the readership to bring you Speedbandits.dk…

Speedbandits.dk
Warning: Topless traffic agents may not be appropriate to view at work.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.