Share with Direct Line your ideas to make pedestrian crossings safer - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED!

[EmmaMumsnet]

Direct Line have approached us to ask MNers for their ideas on how to make pedestrian crossing safer for pedestrians and motorists. Over 7,000 incidents are recorded each year at UK crossings between vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians and Direct Line would like to hear your thoughts on how to improve them.

Rachael Lynch, Innovation Marketing Manager at Direct Line said; “72 per cent of UK adults feel crossings need to be updated and in October 2017 Direct Line developed the world’s smartest pedestrian crossing, the Smart Crossing. As we developed the technology, it became apparent that the potential for what could be done was far greater than we had initially imagined, which is why we have made the technology open source and are continuing to work with partners to explore ways to modernise the pedestrian crossing for all road users including pedestrians and motorists."

So please share below your most creative ideas for how to improve pedestrian crossings. Do also share your thoughts on the safety at pedestrian crossings and how you and your children were/are taught about road safety.

Everyone who comments on the thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks,

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

The pedestrian phase on a pelican crossing should be long enough for elderly and toddlers to be able to cross the road. Some of the timings are stupidly short.

Some people are in the cars are not the best at stopping at zebra crossings.

looking forward to reading comments on this as i do feel the timings are just a joke sometimes as you barely cross before the cars are revving

More time is required to actually get across the road, some drivers 'bully' you by revving and nudging forward and it's not easy trying to get across the road in that time, especially if you have mobility issues or toddlers on reins in tow.

There is a crossing near me where there have been several lives lost due to pedestrians walking out when it's not the green man. There is traffic coming from all directions and it's a very busy road. I think a barrier system so you can't walk out until it's the green man would be reasonable.

Significantly better lighting. DD was hit by a car last December on one. Fortunately it was a glancing blow at low speed, but enough to bruise her all down one leg.

It was a dank, miserable day & she was in dark clothes & the driver said that he just didn't see her. There was no proper lighting just those glowing orange things.

I think putting countdown timers on the driving side are helpful. I've seen these a lot abroad and telling the drivers exactly how long they have to wait seems to prevent some of the agitation at having to stop. This should then prevent them revving at pedestrians and create a generally calmer atmosphere (in theory!)

It would be nice if they'd put our pelican lights back.

Put a clear sign at the side of the road before every crossing to warn drivers in advance (not just lines on the road).

There is a crossing near me at a very busy 4 way intersection. The green man is on for 5 seconds. To cross 4 lanes with no central island.
Ridiculous.

Improving the lighting would be my first suggestion also agree with pp who mentioned how ridiculously short the time is to get across when you are with a toddler or have poor mobility x

Better lighting and making it more obvious too. Long lights across the walkway on either side of the zebra crossing either red or green.

I think the puffin crossings are better than the pedestrian crossings - having the red light for cars seems a surer way of getting them to stop. But many of the puffin crossings need to allow a longer time to cross. The ones with the flashing green man / orange light don't seem that safe as it's less clear about whether you have time to cross / can go.

I think a lot of crossings could do with speed bumps immediately before them so drivers HAVE to slow down. We've one or two near us that have a small slope but it's not sufficient. My biggest bugbear is cyclists completely ignoring pedestrians at pelican/ zebra crossings and riding straight across, I'm not sure what would stop them though.

The one we have are not being maintained enough!
The paint needs refreshing every year, some are barely visible.
How about markings on the pavements aimed at children on where is safe to stand whilst waiting for the crossing to become safe so they are not too close to the kerb? Footprints or a brightly painted segment?

Lighting would be helpful in the dark winter months, a lot of schools now insist on black or navy coats and teenagers walking home on their own after school are hard to see in the dim light

Can't the crossing have sensors that detect if a vehicle has actually stopped so a pedestrian can be informed when it's safe to cross?

The ability to cancel a crossing button press.

There's acrossing near me which seems to be famine or flood in terms of cars. Invariably you give up playing frogger and press the button, only to find the traffic then vanishes. So I cross and always feel guilty that traffic is now waiting for non existent road-crossers! (which then pisses drivers off and adds one more notch to their annoy-o-meter)

(That, combined with the countdown timers - calm everyone down!)

I am a driver, BTW.

CCTV. The amount of drivers that don’t look whether someone is crossing or not and drive straight through is unbelievable

more camera traps on certain pedestrian crossings that flashcars that drive through a red light.
massive fines for drivers who don't stop.

I agree with warnings to drivers that zebra crossings are coming up. Together with spot checks by police like when they monitor speeding, but on zebra crossings.

I have to cross a zebra crossing everyday near by house. Just last week a police car actually whizzed by me when I was half across!!! And no - not on a blue light.

I think speed bumps before and after and better signage.
I agree with massive fines and license points for those who don’t stop / I’ve nearly been hit with my pram and toddler by a car going through a red light.

I was hit by a car at a crossing as a teenager. Luckily just bruised but it shook me up. More time to cross is needed, I just tried to nip across while green man still there and a car just decided to speed off really quickly while the lights were still changing.

Bright lighting going on when it is safe to cross would be helpful all round.

I think they need to replace them with traffic lights where the pedestrian presses the button. Too many cars make the decision to not bother stopping at a zebra crossing, but won't ignore traffic lights.

CCTV. I also they need to re-do the painting more often, as with zebra crossings they are often faded and that means you aren't able to see the lines well.