I came across a fascinating experiment going on “back home”, today – see this Times article:
Drivers no longer have the right of way on the ring road in Ashford, Kent, and have to negotiate their way across junctions, with no signs or lines to guide them. All road users, whether travelling on foot, by bicycle, car or bus, have equal priority and must use eye contact to decide who goes first.
The theory is that lights lull people into a false sense of security, meaning that they pay less attention on a green light and fail to notice someone stepping off the pavement.
Four sets of lights have been removed from Ashford’s ring road. The road surface has been relaid with red and grey bricks in a herringbone pattern to remind drivers that they are not on a conventional street. Pedestrians can cross the road wherever and whenever they choose, without waiting for a gap in the traffic … Kent County Council has spent more than £13 million [$20+ million] turning a three-lane fast-moving one-way system into a two-way road where the pavement is twice as wide as the carriageway …
A VERY expensive experiment, if it doesn’t work!
M&I / GBMINI 
Interesting idea, depending on the volume of traffic though this could cause nothing less than anarchy I think.
Bad idea. Roads with rules are not followed.
That’s sort of the point. Some people ignore rules anyway, while others are misled into thinking they are safer because of the rules.
Get rid of the rules, and no-one is fooled – everyone has to be careful and think!
That’s how it is in much of the world. It never becomes truly no rules at all; people will still make up conventions on their own. Look at this:
Great video! I guess the “rules” there are “try not to damage your vehicle”
Rules have their place, basically instead of having to guess what the opposing driver is going to do you can make the initial assumption they are following the rules. However a driver is a fool if they absolutely believe every car is following the rules of the road. At some point check out the stats on auto accidents and fatalities in India. Also imagine a pedestrian walking across the lanes of traffic and all I can imagine is the need for a ambulance to be stationed near.
For me it’s a moot point! As I said people don’t follow the rules normally anyway, and anyone that trusts other drivers is a fool. I personally think this is a foolish and rather dangerous way to conduct a test. In the USA you’d be opening yourself up to liability. Also in the USA you have 100 different nationalities driving the way they used to in their homeland. I have driven in places like Mexico, Jamaica, Italy and so on and they all have their own styles. Maybe this works in a little village in some rural town but in most metro areas you’re talking suicide.