There's nothing the nimble smart car likes more than the challenge of an urban road with all its twists, turns and squeezy parking spaces. But this new road layout in west London looks like it could be more challenging than most.

No pavements, no road markings and no road signs may sound like a recipe for both vehicular and pedestrian disaster, especially when it's in a busy London location, but the design of the space has proved everyone wrong.

Dutch traffic engineer Hans Monderman has been able to implement his unique plan on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, an area so famously associated with museums such as the National History Museum and the Victoria & Albert that it's known as ‘London's cultural heartland'.

And all these fabulous attractions bring with them lots and lots of people. Locals who quickly want to get where they're going, tourists who haven't a clue without their head in a map, and all sorts of drivers - cars, buses, taxis and more.

Yet somehow Monderman's ‘shared space', with its cross-hatched street markings making the road open to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, has seen accidents on this busy road reduced by 60%. His theory is that by removing the traffic controls that we all rely on, we actually come to rely on ourselves a whole lot more - we look for traffic, we're more careful of bikes and we don't trust the ‘stop' signs. We just take more care and are more considerate.

In order to make sure the initiative is safe for blind people, Monderman has integrated a certain textured paving to delineate certain areas, and even though the new road has only been open for a short time, the average driving speed is now just 20 mph.

Click here to read about another smart idea for increasing safe mobility.

For more information about the smart fortwo visit thesmart.co.uk.