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Zebra crossing |
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A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. The crossing is characterised by longitudinal stripes (hence the term, named after the zebra) on the road, parallel to the flow of the traffic, alternately a light colour (usually white) and a dark one (painted black, or left unpainted if road surface itself is of a dark colour). The stripes are typically 400 to 600 millimetres (16 inches to 2 feet) wide. Pedestrians always have right of way on a zebra crossing.
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After some isolated experiments, the zebra crossing was first used at 1000 sites in the UK in 1949 in its original form of alternating strips of blue and yellow, and a 1951 measure introduced them into law. In 1971, the Green Cross Code was introduced to teach children safer crossing habits, replacing the earlier "kerb drill".
In the United Kingdom the crossing is marked with Belisha beacons, flashing amber globes on black and white poles on each side of the road, named after Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of Transport, who introduced them in 1934. The crossings were originally marked by beacons and parallel rows of studs, and the stripes were soon added for the sake of visibility.
A similar crossing, the pelican crossing (pedestrian light controlled), has traffic lights for vehicles and green and red men icons illuminating to show pedestrians when and when not, respectively, to cross. Pedestrians have right-of-way only when the green man icon is lit or if they entered the crossing while lit. Pelican crossings were introduced in 1969, after an earlier experiment known as the Panda crossing, and in many places have completely replaced zebra crossings.
Other similar crossings in the UK include puffin (pedestrian user-friendly intelligent), toucan (two can cross, a joint pedestrian and bicycle crossing), and pegasus (for horses, usually outside race courses) crossings.
A lollipop man or woman helps children to cross a zebra crossing during school hours, so-called because of the long lollipop-shaped pole they carry, with a circular yellow disc edged in red. The centre of this disk has a black bar, which can be used to note down the number plate of motorists who fail to stop.
In the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia and most other European countries pedestrians have right of way even if they are still on the kerb, but about to enter the zebra crossing.
In Finland, zebra crossings are also used by cyclists.
See pedestrian crossing for equivalent crossings in other countries, including North American crosswalks.
A zebra crossing appears on the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album. This has made this crossing a minor tourist attraction, and it has been incorporated into the Abbey Road Studios logo. Since the Abbey Road photo was taken zigzag lines at the kerb and in the centre of the road have been added to all zebra crossings to indicate the no-waiting zones on either side. The band Shriekback's album Sacred City contains an entire song, Beatles Zebra Crossing?, about the Abbey Road zebra crossing and its status as a tourist attraction.
There is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to zebra crossings in the science-fiction comedy novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by English author Douglas Adams, in reference to Man using the improbable creature called the Babel fish as proof to the non-existence of God... the novel says, "Man then goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed at the next zebra crossing."
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