I usually don't post material like this but this link was on another board I use and it's a really interesting idea.

 

...a new project in London questions the idea of barriers to begin with, envisioning a "shared space" for the intermingling of vehicles and walkers. It may seem chaotic, but planners believe it could foster a more accessible, safer, pedestrian-friendlier thoroughfare by forcing everyone to slow down and be aware of who's on the road.

 

http://www.good.is/post/goodbye-sidewalks-london-planners-break-down-boundaries-between-cars-and-peds/

Sounds like an exciting change, and one to keep an eye on, but planners have been proposing these changes abroad for years. There have been many applications in Europe already, but none (to my knowledge) so far in the US. I don't think it can be applied just anywhere, but seem more feasible in high traffic areas with many points of interest or entryways. That way, the traffic has to be slower, but the barriers are removed, allowing for a space that adapts to the pedestrian volume.

 

The typical Wal*mart parking lot has a minimum of traffic controls and healthy pedestrian traffic, but you don't often hear of pedestrians being struck by automobiles. Drivers are watching out for pedestrians. Maybe it helps that the typical Wal*mart customer drives to the parking lot and then becomes a pedestrian himself.

I think the Texas Transportation Institute (non-partisan, not insurance company funded) had a study out a few years ago that had the number of accidents and deaths in shopping centers "very low" due to the typical speeds of the vehicle and the number of conflicting points that required almost constant driver attention. When combined, the driver was alert and looking out for pedestrians at almost every segment of the inner mall route (not the outer fringes of a parking lot) and traveling at very low speeds - typically less than 20 MPH.

 

That situation can work in some instances. For instance, imagine converting 4th Street in downtown Cincinnati into a mixed traffic thoroughfare. Two-way traffic could be restored, the sidewalks eliminated, and the path become essentially one. The driving lanes - say, one going eastbound and two westbound, could be delineated by paint markings, and on the edges, large landscaped plots for trees and flora. There would be multiple openings, and pedestrians would essentially be able to cross at will and not just at crosswalks. To ensure that speeds would be slow - since it would be the only type of its kind on the city, there could be speed humps, narrow traffic lanes and other traffic calming measures.

 

Losing the visibility of a curb line and a fixed definition of an automobile right-of-way could work. The 9th Street Plaza, after it was converted from a pedestrian plaza into an automobile route (with few modifications to the pedestrian plaza) was a similar attempt. Cars literally weaved in between large above-ground tree planters, benches, a water fountain and parked cars. It deteriorated fast, though, because the sidewalk was so thin and cracked under just a few years worth of use, and has been replaced by a new auto plaza.