Look it up in Google. The Dutch experimented with this as far as 20 years ago, they call it "woonerf". It works. I lived in a "woonerf" for a couple of years.
The Greeks (I live in Greece now) have it too, but that's because they are anarchists and take authority from no-one... Traffic lights don't work, and when they work they are ignored more often than not. Any self-respecting Greek decides for himself if and when it is safe to continue. Traffic signs are used as shooting targets and white lines alongside and in the middle of the road have a purely ornamental function: the manoeuvring space for cars, trucks, buses, donkeys and motorists is as wide as the asphalt, but on busier roads they have agreed to stick to the right side, more or less. Most people in villages don't even think twice before crossing the road, they assume that you will stop. And you will, not only for them but equally for the goats and sheep. It took me some time to get used to this system, but I feel perfectly comfortable with it now. You adopt a much more defensive driving style. B.t.w. I live in a medium size town (approximately 300,000 inhabitants).
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Look it up in Google. The Dutch experimented with this as far as 20 years ago, they call it "woonerf". It works. I lived in a "woonerf" for a couple of years. The Greeks (I live in Greece now) have it too, but that's because they are anarchists and take authority from no-one... Traffic lights don't work, and when they work they are ignored more often than not. Any self-respecting Greek decides for himself if and when it is safe to continue. Traffic signs are used as shooting targets and white lines alongside and in the middle of the road have a purely ornamental function: the manoeuvring space for cars, trucks, buses, donkeys and motorists is as wide as the asphalt, but on busier roads they have agreed to stick to the right side, more or less. Most people in villages don't even think twice before crossing the road, they assume that you will stop. And you will, not only for them but equally for the goats and sheep. It took me some time to get used to this system, but I feel perfectly comfortable with it now. You adopt a much more defensive driving style. B.t.w. I live in a medium size town (approximately 300,000 inhabitants).