@pelican: The French are less aggressive - really?

Yeah, you're right - but I am not sure how else to describe it. The point I am trying to make is if a French driver drove over here the same way they drove over there, I think they would end up a victim of road rage. Australian drivers are not very tolerant of others bending the rules even if it does make the traffic flow more smoothly, whereas in France it is expected behaviour. The end result is compared to us Ozzies, the French are very tolerant drivers.

@pelican: In my experience, the French don't follow the road rules

Yes, hence my comment that the French treat all road signs are purely advisory. But the Italians make the French look like law abiding wimps, so it is just a matter of degree.

Dear Jardine,

We have lived in California where the driving
test, the enforcement of the road rules, and
frequent driver re-testing ensured a far safer
level of driving then we experience in Australia.

Most of the driver-education in California focused
on driver responsibility and as in the
case of Los Angeles, where some four-way intersections
relied on driver responsibility to give way to the
right, and the first vehicle at the intersection had
the right of way. From our experience there was never
a problem.

It would take extreme driver-education in this country
for the removal of traffic signs to work here. I doubt
whether this tactic would succeed here due to the
stubborn-pigheadness of some people. And the attitude
of "the rules don't apply to me."

I heard about these experiments on radio a few years ago. I believe it was on counterpoint on radio national. It was an interesting program. One point I remember was that taking away the signs meant people had to actually think and adapt to the conditions around them. They discussed how people given a traffic sign would just drive "blindly" according to the sign without thinking. An example was given of a small street in a town with children playing only a metre or so away. With a 60km sign people would drive by at 60km/hr with the children so very close by. It seems they just thought they were being told it was acceptable. When the signs were removed it forced the drivers to think and adapt to the conditions around them, and they all slowed down when they saw the children.
The conclusion of the program was that the removal of the signs meant people had to interact with the conditions around them, rather than just be like zombies. I think they did mention it didn't tend to work in very high flow conditions.