IMO a bigger isasue is why ordinary 'zebra' crossings are now bad news. Increasingly they're being replaced by lights-controlled crossings that stay at red for too long and stop traffic unnecessarily (often when pedestrians have already crossed during a gap in the traffic), all adding to congestion and pollution.
Of course, that enables politicians and official do-gooders to point to how congested and polluted the UK is and maliciously to stamp on motorists some more.
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"IMO a bigger isasue is why ordinary 'zebra' crossings are now bad news."
There used to be two of these in Derby close together outside what used to be Halfords/Pizza Hut. At lunchtime/Saturdays traffic stopped because of pedestrians on the crossings.
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I can think of two Zebras which should be converted to light operated.
There's a Zebra in the centre of Camberley which is positioned right outside the door of the shopping centre - at times it feels like a continuous stream of people.
The other is just off a roundabout in Frimley - Its a hard roundabout to navigate for various reasons and there's a zebra just where two lanes converge into one on the exit - drivers can be more distracted by their lane merge (read fighting for position) than looking properly for pedestrians.
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To me it's pretty obvious why Zebra crossings are becoming redundant.
Firstly, there is now a significant body of motorists who simply ignore pedestrians waiting to cross on a Zebra or even pedestrians actually on the crossing (happened to me in Sainsbury's car park the other day, driver so distracted they just did not see me). Hopefully they are more likely to stop for a red light, although that is not a given these days.
In addition the blind and partially sighted can have no idea when to cross a Zebra and with an increasing elderly population there are more folk in this predicament these days.
Children and the elderly need the reassurance of a crossing with lights of some sort, there's a particular crossing on Fulwell Rd. in Sunderland on a straight 30 mph stretch, where speed limits are constantly ignored, where children stand nervously for ages waiting for cars to stop.
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