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

Pelican lights need to be operated to suit the area, not just a one timer suits the majority. They should also be reviewed for efficiency. With modern technology this should be simple surely. Near me we have a set of pelican lights that are timed completely wrong to allow the little ones to cross without rushing. The problem is they are timed far too long! This means that at school times everyone crosses to the centre then have to wait for the next set of lights to change. It works well for keeping the traffic moving and not completely clogging up the road and to some extent the nearby roundabout because of forward thinking sensible drivers (especially those who are familiar with the road layout) BUT this causes the parents and little children along with prams, scooters etc to be squashed in the middle waiting for the next set of pelican lights to change.

Also not far from us are a set of zebra crossings that are raised. they have the stripes but no lights and because they slow drivers down, they work really well. A good idea for all zebra crossings I think.

Reading this thread with interest as I've spent the past year campaigning for better road safety outside my son's school. Every day is a nightmare.

Not quite sure how but I think better general signage to remind road users that areas are "pedestrians likely" if going into a shopping area or something that "School location" with a reminder to be careful of children going to school or walking home.

The countdown timer mentioned above, for cars and pedestrians would also be good.

I think that there should be a little more time to cross, I have to grab my children's hands and dash across the road when it's time to cross and we are fit and healthy so I feel for those who are not so fortunate. As a driver, I also think signage to warn drivers there is an upcoming crossing would be helpful.

I have seen a few dangerous crossings that are just off a turning off a busy roundabout.

Drivers are busy looking for traffic on the left then when they turn off onto their exit they are faced with a crossing they hadn't seen before and don't always have time to react.

Crossings shouldn't be allowed so close to major exits on roundabouts.

I was taught the green cross code at school and by the videos with the green man.

I think make sure the zebra striping's are renewed regularly so they are clear, and maybe a zone of blue paint either side to highlight the approaching crossing making them even more noticeable . plus good lighting on the crossing and the red traffic lights could be super sized

We are absolutely desperate for safe crossings across our rat run village roads. Councils will not fund and the only way to ensure our kids get to school safely is to drive them less than quarter of a mile to school - completely ridiculous

I see so many cars parked on zig zags so I guess people are fairly sure they won't get caught and fined. Definitely needs to be a national road safety campaign launched with tougher fines for drivers that fail to stop or park on zig zags.

Make sure trees are pruned so they don't obscure crossing beacons as the driver is approaching.

Longer crossing times. Even without a toddler or pushchair, some are so short before they start flashing.

I also wonder how much of thr green cross code is taught anymore. Dd is only three but I explain what to do everytime we cross a road (and sound like one of 'those' parents!) because I really want it to be second nature. I look even on pelican crossings (with the button and green man) as I have twice nearly been hit by cars not stopping and seen it happen countless times. Children need to be taught how to cross roads as they will all be doing it themselves one day.

Yes also to the placings of crossings. There is a zebra crossing just off a busy island across two lanes of a dual carriageway. Its right in front of a bus stop too meaning even more things for drivers to have to pay attention to.

Parking on the zig zags is a real problem in our local area, especially the inconsiderate parents who do this on the crossing nearest the primary school (despite many letters home from the school) community wardens do crackdowns every now and then and it improves for a while then it goes back to the usual chaos. Fine people heavily,it’s the only way, gentle persuasion doesn’t work.
I would really like the culprits who put other children at risk named and shamed in the local press.

More time is needed on many crossing for sure. There's one in my village that only stays green for about 5 seconds ! This is impossible for someone with a buggy and a child, someone with mobility issues etc. We are trying to teach our children to cross the road safely, not to run across, but with it only staying green for 5 seconds and some plonkers in the cars beeping or revving the engine we've got no choice but to run !
Zebra crossings should have some kind of sound that goes off when someone is crossing because many people don't bother to stop, which is really dangerous.

I agree, more time is needed at crossings.

I wonder whether some drivers never walk anywhere so never experience the frustrations of being a pedestrian with idiot/inconsiderate drivers around Totally believe this to be true and it's particularly evident on nasty weather days when one seems to have to wait even longer for a motorist to stop to let one/the children use a zebra crossing safely.

I think better signage, and a greater deterrent if found to be driving dangerously around pedestrian crossing areas, points spring to mind. Put up some CCTV cameras as an additional deterrent (even if they are dummy ones it's still a deterrent). My school had a day when the police were visible, and speaking to drivers who were parking next to the zebra crossing leaving to poorer visibility. I would also add flashing amber lights around the school warning sign.

Cameras would perhaps dissuade drivers from not stopping.
Countdowns would reduce pedestrian stress.

Probably too expensive but actually have the ground of the crossing lit up from below,in different colours even.

Have the green man on for longer, to let slower users cross.

Like most people I don’t think the time given to cross is long enough.

CCTV.
There have been a couple of times I have stepped onto a crossing (green man, drivers have halted) with my toddler only to freeze as some knob comes out of nowhere speeding through...

You should push for school children having to wear colourful coats and bags with reflectors.
It is shocking that secondary schools around where we are insist on black or navy coats.
Children starting secondary school should also get a basic course in road safety: where to cross, not to walk looking at phones etc.

Definitely a warning zone before the zebra crossings would be good and might help with the parking issues. I like the idea of blue paint and perhaps some road texture like little bumps to slow cars.

One problem at my sons school is that at peak times there is a near-constant stream of children crossing so car drivers get annoyed by the hold-up. If there were lollipop men/women then there could be a system of holding children back for a while to improve the flow of traffic. Even part-time traffic lights would be an improvement.

Signage and lighting is definitely a huge priority. A police van stuck its blue lights on and overtook a bus in front of me last week, and it was a near miss for the person on the crossing as the police just hadn’t seen that the bus was slowing to a stop for the crossing. Lots of other cars also either ignore zebra crossings or speed up to “beat” the pedestrian to it; signage and better lighting won’t help with that unfortunately.

Perhaps adapting our culture would, for example in Holland drivers give way to almost everything (bikes have priority at a junction, pedestrians crossing have priority).

We were taught “stop look and listen before you cross the road” and “take care before you cross the street, use your head and then your feet”. I still remember the words and song, and have used that my our kids. We also had lots of adverts on TV for road safety as kids, but really it’s drivers that need to be more aware.

in Holland drivers give way to almost everything (bikes have priority at a junction, pedestrians crossing have priority).

I get really fed up with this quoted as gospel. We went to Holland in the summer and the road we had to cross every day was full of cars and bikes. Nobody stopped for pedestrians at all! On a previous visit a few years ago we were almost run over midway across a crossing with our pram by 2 girls on bikes who didn't even slow down.

I will say that I like the green man being low down because it makes the pedestrians look at the traffic coming towards them. I wish they would beep though. My absolute bugbear is pedestrians who run across the road the second the lights change to green for the traffic. Every single time I'm waiting at lights I get this.

I walk to work via school every day and have to cross at 3 pelican and 2 zebra crossings each way. I almost get run over at least twice a week and it's invariably a woman driver. The men around here tend to stop. I like the idea of a different road surface on the approach and better lighting, but unfortunately there are many many drivers and pedestrians just too important to wait.

we were up to a certain aged always held hands with even if we weren't holding hands up to it once we got there we would be held by parents.ha mums still holds out her arm over me sometimes.
more time to cross.
having it fairly timed.quite often I see the pedestrains just have to wait too lnog before it is their turn in the traffic cycle so they are more eager and more often just finding "a gap" in traffic rather than stopping,pressing and waiting for the walkers turn.
we were always taken on an outing with school to learn the crossing button and way to do it safely.i don't know whether this is still done.
also shown viedos in school time.
school trips to church etc I remember when we were very little youd be in the class line and it would always be explained.

If we are talking complete innovations, how about a retractable police stinger stripe to take out irresponsible drivers starting before the green man / last person has crossed..

That or maybe people in the front cars at the crossing could be treated to a suitably long short animation of their choice, projected onto their windscreen to pass the time