Are streets without traffic signs conceivable? Seven cities and regions in Europe are giving it a try — with good results. Drachten in the Netherlands has gotten rid of 16 of its traffic light crossings and converted the other two to roundabouts. ‘We reject every form of legislation,’ the Russian aristocrat and ‘father of anarchism’ Mikhail Bakunin once thundered. The czar banished him to Siberia. But now it seems his ideas are being rediscovered. European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren — by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions, restrictions and warning signs. A project implemented by the European Union is currently seeing seven cities and regions clear-cutting their forest of traffic signs. Ejby, in Denmark, is participating in the experiment, as are Ipswich in England and the Belgian town of Ostende. The utopia has already become a reality in Makkinga, in the Dutch province of Western Frisia. A sign by the entrance to the small town (population 1,000) reads ‘Verkeersbordvrij’ — ‘free of traffic signs.’ […]