National Trust chairman calls for removal of traffic lights Sir Simon is not the first person to suggest that roads would be safer without traffic lights. A radical experiment where nearly all the signals were removed from the town of Drachten in northern Holland led to fewer serious accidents and shorter tailbacks. Supporters of the idea say that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians take more care when there are no traffic lights because they have to pay more attention to other people on the road. Signals are being taken away in towns across Britain as part of moves to reduce urban clutter, also including signs and barriers. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has ordered a review of thousands of sets of traffic lights in the capital, and more than 20 have already been removed. Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: "If drivers think they are spending more time stuck at red they would be right. Traffic lights been around since the 1920s but the number of sets has jumped by about a third over the past decade alone. Much of the frustration comes when they are programmed to promote one form of traffic over another - for example, thousands of sets of lights give priority to buses. Traffic lights have their place but, like anything, only in moderation. However, Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, warned that removing the signals could pose greater dangers. He said: "Traffic lights are essential. Although there may be some that could be removed or changed without causing too many problems, removing most of them would cause gridlock and result in more, not fewer, accidents. It is incorrect to say that most accidents occur at traffic lights, and when accidents do happen at traffic light junctions, it is not because drivers are distracted by looking at the lights. There are many causes - running the red light, approaching too fast, not anticipating that the lights will change, following too closely, pedestrians stepping out without looking, to mention a few.