Mises Wire

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a’ Signs

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a’ Signs

This interesting news clip (BBC?) draws attention to the newest trend in traffic regulation: eliminating all signs and even clear distinctions between roads and sidewalks. The point is to address the perverse incentives associated with imposed "safety": the safer we believe we are as drivers and pedestrians, the more recklessly we behave.

I find this experiment interesting because it is unconventional, taps into a counter-intuitive idea, represents a welcome turn away from the usual statist method of command and control, and suggests the type of experimentation you might see under a purely private system.

(Here is a WIRED article on the trend)

All Rights Reserved ©
What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member
Mises Institute