The BBC reports that a survey by a motoring body has found British zebra crossings the best designed in Europe.
The president of the Automobile Association, Edmund King, says:
“This strongly suggests that any problem with London’s pedestrian crossings has to lie with their users rather than their design.”
Is he saying that if pedestrians get killed at zebra crossings, they need to blame themselves? Why doesn’t the BBC quote someone from the Pedestrian Association saying that in spite of the best facilities in Europe, British motorists still manage to kill tens of pedestrians every year on zebra crossings.
But the real scandal is what happens away from the zebras: a previous report by the same body reveals the stark truth: the UK is the most disrepectful European country as regards to pedestrians safety: one out of five road deaths is a pedestrian, compared to a European average below 12%.
If one looks at the number of pedestrian deaths per population, the most dangerous countries are Spain, the UK and Italy. One cannot fail to notice that these countries are at the bottom of the league for bicycle usage and top of the league for rubbish on the streets. These statistics seem to be correlated by the principle of civility.
They may be the best in Europe, but they are routinely ignored by drivers who know they can blame pedestrians for any accidents. Here a driver knows that if they hit a driver on the (apparently badly designed) crossings, the driver must prove they were not driving dangerously. Makes all the difference.
It all depends on the wider local culture. In Poland, for example, zebra crossings are so absolutely disregarded that you wonder why they bother with them. Back in 1971 my first day in Warsaw was nearly my last, for innocently assuming that motorists would stop for pedestrians as they do (or at least did) in the UK. And when I was back there thirty years later very little had changed. During two years living there I witnessed five pedestrians whacked by cars; two of them on zebra crossings (…and myself very nearly a sixth one morning in Elbląg, the fluff shaved off my jacket by a woman driver who actually speeded up when she saw me crossing). There's just a generally held attitude that the car-driver is king and that pedestrians and cyclists are low-life, and otherwise quite decent and courteous people adjust their behaviour accordingly.
At the other end of the scale Dutch and Swedish motorists seemed very civil to other road-users: probably because (as Andy reports from Germany) the onus is on them and not their victims to prove that they weren't driving dangerously. Britain I'd place about halfway on the scale, in that most motorists are sensible and polite while a small but – sadly – very conspicuous minority are arrogant and aggressive.
But it cuts both ways. There's an interesting article in today's “Independent” from a cyclist indignant at being told off for jumping a red light. What do readers think?
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/...
The quote should have read “road users” rather than just “users”. The point being that if the design is not at fault then the road users are.
Edmund King, AA president
In south London I find it quite frusrating trying to use zebra crossings – motorists often ignore pedestrians. In Norway, by contrast, people will simply walk out into a crossing without even looking for cars – quite a difference in the level of respect motorists have for pedestrians
I seldom have problem with zebra crossings, but the Highway Code asks motorists to stop when the pedestrian steps onto the crossing. This can lead to a bit of a game of chicken with the motorist daring the pedestrian to try to his chance.
I wish in the UK they would adopt the Canadian (or maybe it's just Ontario) rule – a pedestrian wanting to cross raises his arm horizontally and signals that he is going to cross. Doing it, you feel a bit like Moses parting the waters. And it works too.
It concentrates the mind of the driver enormously when they know they'll be held responsible for any accident involving a “weaker” party, i.e. a pedestrian or a cyclist. That this principle isn't upheld in the UK is scandalous.
On the question of zebra-crossing design: I think the UK design is well-intentioned but problematic. A lot of emphasis is put on providing clear lines of vision by marking the side of the street with zig-zag lines to prevent parking or stopping or any other obstruction in the approach to a zebra-crossing. However, this creates the effect that the street suddenly opens up and gets wider, a very clear subconscious sign for drivers to speed up.
I think you are right about that concentrating the mind. Drivers here in the Netherlands are much more careful than in the UK.
Mind you, there are also areas here where by law the speed limit is “walking pace”, and roads on which cars are considered to be “guests of the bicycle”.
Neither of these concepts is new – they date from the 1970s and are quite common here.
One of the problems with Zebra crossings in the UK is that they seem to have fallen out of favour and been replaced by Pelican crossings with delays for pedestrians. We have the reverse of that over here.
Very nice tips. Thanks for sharing!
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