And then there was the Pride Crossing

There was a bit to-do, possibly in the 90s, about a mountain on Harris(?) that was going to be quarried for, predominantly, English building projects. The band Runrig* did a song about it and everything. Wonder if it was the same type of stone?

One of the members is now a MSP(SNP) and TWAWing away with the, ahem, best of them.

AlisonDonut · Today 08:50

The granite and limstone in tarmac/asphalt is usually named from the quarry that it came from so that it can be traced back to source if anything is wrong with it.

Yes, I did GCSE, A-Level and a university trip to the Threlkeld quarry, the microgranite had the perfect size and textural mix of felspar and quartz for grip with tyres. The one on the Hebridean island apparently supplied most of the microgranite for UK roads. This would have been in the early 90s, so may have changed now.

The thing is, as the horizontal stripes are used as the crossing stripes, that means the arrow, on the left hand side pointing to the right, directs one (old-fashioned but gender neutral pronoun, note) off the crossing onto the carriageway and into the traffic.

If they updated them to put the progress arrow, does that mean you can only cross one way as otherwise you are demonstrating your support for rolling back rights? Would we need 2 next to each other and make them mini one way systems?

Maybe the LGB and their allies could push the invading arrow back and the spicy straights could continue marching it forward. You could put up a webcam and see who's winning.

No less daft an idea than the dangerous rainbow crossings, surely?

And on the theme of childishness and microgranite from the Lake District, does anyone else snigger when they read/hear the word asphalt? I miss Terry Wogan on the radio corpsing over Janet and John

Intimating that LGBTQI hands knees and boompsadaisy people need special treatment to...cross a road...is proper insulting.

For decades lesbian and gay people just wanted to be seen as normal. All this does is put a target on their back, as the 'queer' community [straight] can just have the dye taken out of their hair and put a suit on and carry on being straight once all this bollocks is over, whilst the backlash will be going straight to lesbians and gays, who may have to start all over again.

SaysRelaaxxx well done for making the arguments against these crossings so clear. Your kids get to 'play' on a crossing which is supposed to be there for safety reasons and you get to feel good about your love for the straights who want to be special.

While you are teaching your children to have 'fun', are you also teaching them to be truly inclusive to all those people with unfashionable conditions like the visually impaired, those with dementia etc..?

Thought not.

Well, we all know only one type of inclusion is on the radar really.

Having said that, surely the “plain rainbow” crossings are not inclusive at all, because they don’t have the progressive arrow thingy? 🧐

@turbonerd Childish? How very dare you 🤣

Threlkeld microgranite. Oh my! Think I've found my new username

The granite and limstone in tarmac/asphalt is usually named from the quarry that it came from so that it can be traced back to source if anything is wrong with it. And it is usually from local quarries to the site, and I don't think any of my projects were as far as the Hebrides.

Crossing the road doesn't require a specific rainbow to enable it. You simply move yourself with legs or wheelchair from one side to the other . How you see yourself doesn't affect any of that. It is virtue signalling bollocks to spend public money making the road LGBTQ+ friendly. If you are any of those categories or none you don't need the world to 'allow you' or overtly welcome you. You just step off the kerb and there you go.

Ah well, fuck partially sighted people then. And the blind, whose guide dogs can't recognise them as crossings. As long as your kids are happy.

Interesting. I actually drove across the Gloucester one without seeing it (there was no one on it!), when I went to a funeral in the cathedral a couple of years ago. It was daylight but raining heavily and the crossing was really hard to see against the wet tarmac.

AlisonDonut · Yesterday 15:38

I used to test it for a living.

Does Threlkeld microgranite mean anything to you? Or the microgranite from a Hebridean island, the name of which escapes me...

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people, are the LGB.

Queer people are straight otherwise they would be included in the LGB.

So, you think we hate straight people?

What, all of them? Because we don't want people to die or be injured on a crossing?

All those years I spent making sure roads were built to standard, testing roads and the ground they were built on? When I could have just rainbow washed everything and made people smile at the pretty colours?

No. It’s pretty spectacular. We all teach our children to have fun and play while crossing the road 🤦‍♀️

Hehehe, I am that childish too.

I’m actually just flabbergasted at the ‘you miserable cows all just hate queer people’ argument bolstered by ‘my kids love to play on these crossings’ on a thread about safety issues.

Could you have missed the point any more completely?

You’ve certainly cheered me up with your post.

So the letter to tfl, link further up, that says it's terrible for so many groups of people. Including sight impaired (of which I am one) autistic, dementia sufferers and more. What do they do while you and your kids show off how inclusive you are by picking a colour?

Are we to literally throw people under the bus? Because I cant use colourful crossings. My choices are limited.

But never mind me and all the others, the important people have an utterly useless to them crossing. Yay.

Local authorities are welcome to paint fun designs on the ground in playgrounds if they like.

Although they should consider the effects of that on ND or visually impaired children too and do far more ensure playgrounds are much more accessible to all children than they currently are.

And here is an example to illustrate my point.

It’s not about cheering up the road or amusing children.

indeed, arguably, the fact your children view these as fun is a safety issue. There are very good reasons why we don’t want road crossings to feel like a playground to children.

So let’s add that to the list of reasons not to do this.

What's "the queer community"?

And, BTW, it's not just Pride/rainbow crossings, it's all colourful crossings that are expensive and problematic.

Those, to quote Transport Fof All and the other organisations, where the pedestrian crossing on the road is painted over with brightly coloured, often abstract, artistic designs.