“Shared space” refers to an approach to street design in which traffic signs and kerbs are removed so that the normal separation between different road users no longer exists. Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers all share the same space and negotiate their movements with each other. It was first introduced in Friesland in the Netherlands, and works on the principle that if regulation is reduced, people will take personal responsibility, reducing their speed and relying on eye contact with other road users. It has been tried out in other cities in Europe and in Auckland, New Zealand, and some impressive claims have been made for it, namely that it has reduced traffic speed more successfully than other measures and reduced or eliminated accidents. However, if this is the case, one cannot help wondering why it has not been introduced in all the world’s major cities. Is it perhaps something that only works with low volumes of traffic or only in particular cultures? The fact is that even the most impressive statistics are not necessarily proof that it works. It may be, for example, that both pedestrians and motorists consciously avoid places where there are no rules, and the decline in the number of accidents is due more to this. Opinion surveys rarely show that people are in favour of them and the organizations which have come out strongly against are those representing the disabled, or, not surprisingly, the blind. There may be a role for shared space in some specific areas of particular cities but on the whole road safety cannot simply be left to people’s native courtesy or personal judgement.