Cut-Price Zebra Crossings?

A scheme that trialled the use of “unlawful” zebra crossings on side roads has been hailed a success after increasing the number of motorists who stop to let pedestrians cross the road.

But if they aren’t legal, why are they putting them in? Why aren’t they putting in legal ones? 

The initiative was launched by Westminster council on 11 side roads, at junctions with main roads such as Millbank, Horseferry Road, Pimlico Road and Wardour Steet. Typically, drivers exiting side roads – or turning in from main roads – tend not give way to pedestrians waiting to cross the road, despite being required to do so under a recent update of the Highway Code.But when “side road zebra crossings” were introduced, the trial found that drivers stopped on about 80 per cent of occasions – about double the number prior to their introduction.

So drivers aren’t recognising that they aren’t legal, clearly. Well, most of them, anyway! 

Westminster believes the results are so compelling that it is urging all 32 other London boroughs to follow its lead and introduce similar measures. Southwark is believed to be the next in line to do so.

A council urging other councils to do something illegal! Gosh, why isn’t this considered a scandal? Is it because it’s working?

Max Sullivan, Westminster’s cabinet member for streets, said the idea was “a rare unicorn… effective, popular and cheap”. He said: “I would like all boroughs to engage with it.”

You forgot ‘legal’, Max! Why isn’t it legal then? 

Mr Sullivan said that traditional zebra crossings cost £60,000 to £120,000 each to install, due to the electrical connections required. By comparison, the “side road zebras” can be installed for £20,000 to £25,000, a “fraction of the cost”, including the cost of monitoring, he said.

And when someone's eventually run down on one of them, what are the CPS going to charge the driver with? What is the victim going to sue the council for, for encouraging a belief that this was a safe road crossing?