Roads Gone Wild

 

Thomas said to (Jesus),

“Lord . . . how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way.”

(John 14:5b, 6a)

 

 

A sermon by Siegfried S. Johnson on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, April 20, 2008

Volume 2 Number 41

First United Methodist Church, 605 West 6^th, Mountain Home, Arkansas 72653

 

 

I want to introduce you this morning to Hans Monderman, one of a new breed of traffic engineers whose road designs often prompt people to ask of him the same question Thomas directed to Jesus in our lectionary text from John’s gospel, “Hans, how can we know the way?” 

 

You see, Monderman specializes in busy inner city intersections with congested traffic flow, and his method of road engineering at these trouble spots betrays an intense dislike for posted traffic signs.  He considers them annoying, even downright dangerous.  Monderman believes traffic at such intersections flows better without signs, and that posting more and more signs and rules and regulations amounts to an admission of engineering failure.  “The trouble with traffic engineers,” he says, “is that when there’s a problem with the road, they always try to add something.  To my mind, it’s much better to remove things.”  Imagine a large city with a problem intersection, a place with a history of serious accidents.  Does the City Council add more signs, more rules, more laws?  Or, do they remove signs, leaving motorists to think for themselves?

 

Reading Monderman, I sensed that he is equal parts urban designer, social scientist, civil engineer, and psychologist.  And, while he wouldn’t call himself a theologian, his work has, as I hope I can demonstrate this morning, theological dimensions.  His approach to inner city transportation is radically counterintuitive – build intersections that seem dangerous and they will, in fact, be safer.   My bulletin insert, is taken from the article in WIRED magazine: 

 

Roads Gone Wild

No street signs.  No crosswalks.  No accidents.

Surprise: Making driving

seem more dangerous could make it safer.

 

And then I offer you the characteristic shape of a Yield sign,

but instead of “Yield” we see the word, THINK!

 

So, how exactly DOES a city build a better, safer intersection?  City planners have traditionally faced high-accident intersections by asking, “What new laws could we establish, what new signs can we post in order to alert motorists to potential dangers and to establish laws that, once followed, can keep them safe?”  Were Monderman on the City Council he would say, “Build the intersection right, without lane markings and regulatory signs, and the public will figure out a safer way.”  In other words, the only sign one needs is invisible.  With no signs, there is in the mind of the motorist an invisible “Yield” sign inviting us to “Think!”

 

This philosophy of road engineering has been demonstrated in what’s called Roundabouts.  At many of the world’s busiest intersections, sign-less Roundabouts where every vehicle merges right until you circle to the outlet you desire, have become more common.  I’ve seen Roundabouts in Cairo and Athens, Istanbul and Jerusalem, successfully funneling traffic from four directions. 

 

Tom McNichol, who wrote the article in WIRED magazine, tells of visiting and interviewing Monderman at his home in Holland, after witnessing a very busy inner city intersection which Monderman designed.  “It’s remarkable for what it doesn’t contain, signs or traffic signals to tell drivers how fast to go, what lane to get in, who has the right of way.  There are no lane markers or even curbs to separate the road from sidewalk cafes.  To an approaching driver, the intersection is utterly ambiguous, and that’s the point.”

 

“Somehow it all works,” McNichol continues. “The drivers slow to gauge the intention of crossing cyclists or pedestrians.  Negotiations over right of way are made through eye contact.  Remarkably, traffic moves smoothly around the circle with hardly a brake screeching, horn honking, or obscene gestures.” 

 

Says Monderman, and here’s where he begins to sound theological, “Pedestrians and cyclists used to avoid this place as dangerous, but now, as you see, the cars look out for the cyclists, the cyclists look out for the pedestrians, and everyone looks out for each other.” 

 

Say what you will about such intersections, the phenomenon is spreading, found in traffic designs across Europe and, more and more frequently, in urban areas within the United States.  As just one example of results, when the city of Christianfield, Denmark built a Roundabout at its busiest intersection, jettisoning traffic lights and lane markers from an intersection which had averaged three fatalities per year for ten years, the number of fatal accidents was cut to zero in the very first year! 

 

Experts call it “psychological traffic calming.”   Without signs, people realize they are being asked to “Think!” for themselves, and for others.  The road may look more dangerous, but it has actually proven to be safer.  Evidently, the lack of lane markings on the road renders drivers less territorial, their driving guided more by the logic of simple awareness than by a selfish “this-is-my-lane-and-what-the-heck-are-you-doing-here?” mentality. 

 

Monderman describes this in words which I think have profound implication for the Christian life, “You can’t expect rules – traffic signs and street markings – to encourage (proper) behavior.  You have to build it into the design of the road.” 

 

That sounds so much like Paul’s words to the Colossian Christians, “Why do you submit to regulations, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch?’  This all may have the appearance of wisdom but is of no value in checking self-indulgence.”   In other words, if proper bahavior isn’t already built into the design of your faith, this certain ‘logic of awareness’ of who you are in Christ, and “whose” you are as a disciple of Chris, no amount of signs posting regulations – do not cross, do not trespass into this land, do not touch -- will suffice to render you holy.

 

It seems to me that Monderman is suggesting, for areas of congestion where people come into oftentimes stressed contact with one another, precisely what Jesus and Paul suggested as a rule for human relationships in the New Testament.  Lane markers and signs removed, regulations become subservient to the logic of safe traffic flow, constraining the driver to use other rules of engagement than mere rules imposed by signs on the side of the road.  These other rules of engagement may be nothing more than common sense, courtesy, and patience.

 

Jesus’ miracles on the Sabbath are cases in point.  Healing a man on the Sabbath always incurred the criticism of the professional religious establishment.  “Jesus, the signs are clearly posted in Judaism.  Sabbath laws are posted and clear.  You have a certain lane you must travel.  Your veering from that path is unacceptable.  The laws are unambiguous, clear for all to see.”   Jesus suggested another rule for human relationship, suggesting compassion, the elevation of human need above strict compliance with posted law.   Evidently, for Jesus, Reason trumps blind adherence to Rules and Regulations, to dogma. 

 

Yes, Hans may be asked the question, “Hans, you say that without lane markings and signs we can know the way?  But how?  How can we know the way unless you tell us?”  When Jesus was asked that same question, he didn’t point to the rules and regulations of Judaism.  He said, “I am the Way.”  Following me is following a Person, not a Procedure.  Following me is following the way of Love, not Learning another List.  Following me is being led by the Spirit, not by Stipulations.  Those who would follow me need not leave their brain at the door to be shaped by their professional leaders, but are invited and encouraged to use their brains – to THINK!

 

That’s why when I read this article I immediately clipped it.  I read it as intensely theological.  I found myself reading, not about engineering and traffic flow, but about the Christian life.  From Jesus’ life and teachings, to Paul’s writing, the New Testament emphasizes that accumulating more and more rules won’t get the job done.  

 

As my group traced out the steps of Paul last month, we noted that Paul settled in the major intersections of humanity, suggesting that the lane markings of both Judaism’s myriad laws and paganism’s myriad gods might all profitably been done away with – in order to follow a Person, a New and Living Way.   Nearly half of Paul’s missionary journeys were spent in only two cities, Corinth (18 months) and Ephesus (nearly 3 years).   Why?  Because these were human hubs in the ancient world, Roundabouts into which funneled peoples from the entire Mediterranean region.  Paul was able, by getting the message of the risen Christ to them before they continued their journeys, to spread the gospel more effectively.  

 

Sources and notes:

“Roads Gone Wild,” an article by Tom McNicol in WIRED, December 2004.