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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Camden’s rainbow crossing

124 replies

Blackandwhitehorse · 10/11/2021 19:50

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10181979/amp/Camden-trans-walkway-New-zebra-crossing-causes-chaos-guide-dog-police-horse.html

It seems to be causing safety issues…

OP posts:
SpookyMargot · 11/11/2021 19:39

If you have an access or safety concern about these crossings or any other colourful crossings in Camden, please email your concerns to Camden Council.

According to the EqIA, it was signed off by their Director of Environment and Sustainability. Google the job title and 'Camden Council' for the name. Email address will be in this format: first [email protected]

ChaToilLeam · 11/11/2021 19:47

It is ridiculous.
Visually impaired people are confused by them, as are some neurodivergent people.
Guide dogs and horses don’t know what to do with them.
Kids think they are colourful spots to play on.

FFS! It’s a crossing! There are other places to stick a flag if the local authority feels so inclined.

LobsterNapkin · 11/11/2021 19:49

@Pacmann

Has anyone figured out what the point of them is yet? What positive difference is having them on the roads doing to anyone?
This is what gets me. Why do we have to have all of this, everywhere?

Can't we just have times when we are not affirming this or that?

OvaHere · 11/11/2021 19:51

I have no idea why they keep insisting on doing this. It creates the exact opposite of good will towards which ever group's symbols they are daubing the road with.

Stick a flag somewhere or paint a wall mural. Those things are unlikely to cause injury. Just stop pissing around with roads.

KittenKong · 11/11/2021 20:16

We don’t need flags. You can’t turn around without a flipping rainbow or sickly baby kink n blue flag in your face ‘for visibility’ purposes. It’s even on cat treats and coffee shop cups.

Huh?

DialSquare · 11/11/2021 20:18

kink n blue flag

Grin
KittenKong · 11/11/2021 20:25

Oh that was a genuine typo. Blush Freud would have had something to say about that though.

MissLucyEyelesbarrow · 11/11/2021 20:27

I'm gobsmacked that the Council's impact assessment (in the Glinner blog) found that there was on impact related to age. Who the fuck do they think is most affected by sight loss? It literally took me 30 seconds on Google to confirm that 80% of people with visual impairment are over 60.

LobsterNapkin · 11/11/2021 20:36

@OvaHere

I have no idea why they keep insisting on doing this. It creates the exact opposite of good will towards which ever group's symbols they are daubing the road with.

Stick a flag somewhere or paint a wall mural. Those things are unlikely to cause injury. Just stop pissing around with roads.

I keep thinking, what if it was some other group. Like the deaf, or Jewish people?

Nothing wrong with keeping deaf or Jewish people in mind. But every time I cross the street? What's the point?

Much less something that was a little more sensitive, where some people didn't agree.

It seems to be tied up in the way that rainbow/queer seems to be treated as if it is the meta-diversity, meta-inclusion symbol. SO somehow it encompasses all other minority or oppressed groups.

But even then - why do I need to think about that when I cross the street? They are at more than 50% of intersections in my city.

ScreamingBeans · 11/11/2021 20:39

There's one in Lewisham on which I nearly ploughed down pedestrians.

I just didn't realise it was a crossing, it was just a garishly coloured bit of road. I had to brake quite sharply and wondered crossly why these bloody people were jaywalking. Then I remembered reading about these ridiculous crossings.

Roads should be about safety and mobility, nothing else.

BloodinGutters · 11/11/2021 20:49

I like the kink & blue flag slip.

So in what way do k&b flags at crossings meet trans people’s needs?

How does the flag at a crossing provide greater benefit than on railings/walls/shop windows/side of buses?

How does it make sense to risk pedestrians safety, and road users also (imagine being the driver who knocks down a pedestrian at these through no fault of your own, how that would weigh on your mh) and especially risk vulnerable disabled groups?

Why is money spent on this rather than say better mh support for trans people?

NecessaryScene · 11/11/2021 20:53

I just didn't realise it was a crossing, it was just a garishly coloured bit of road. I had to brake quite sharply and wondered crossly why these bloody people were jaywalking.

It probably wasn't really a crossing...

No lights, I assume, so something like the thing in the horse video?

foxgoosefinch · 11/11/2021 20:58

Not to mention that I read somewhere that it cost an absolute fortune! And just near there there are tons of homeless people who are served how by this….? I thought local authorities had no money. Confused

foxgoosefinch · 11/11/2021 20:59

(Also love kink&blue flag Grin)

foxgoosefinch · 11/11/2021 21:01

Not flag itself but Freudian slip typo Grin

ScreamingBeans · 11/11/2021 21:51

@NecessaryScene

I just didn't realise it was a crossing, it was just a garishly coloured bit of road. I had to brake quite sharply and wondered crossly why these bloody people were jaywalking.

It probably wasn't really a crossing...

No lights, I assume, so something like the thing in the horse video?

TBH I can't quite remember if there were lights there or a belusha beacon. Because I didn't see anything that resembled a crossing, I wasn't alert to whether there were lights.

Come to think of it, I would probably have spotted a beacon...

WhereAreWeNow · 11/11/2021 23:01

Are we talking about the new Camden trans flag crossings on Tavistock Place @ScreamingBeans? There are lights there.

ScreamingBeans · 12/11/2021 08:36

Hi @WhereAreWeNow, no, this was one in Lewisham

WhereAreWeNow · 12/11/2021 08:41

Ah OK. Bloody hell, how many of them are there?! Are they all over London now?

Helleofabore · 12/11/2021 08:43

Even with lights they are a hazard if you are not used to them. Our high street has one across two lanes each way on a busy road. When the rainbow went down, I was so distracted that I almost didn’t stop on a road I have travelled on for a decade.

It took many by surprise.

Helleofabore · 12/11/2021 08:44

@WhereAreWeNow

Ah OK. Bloody hell, how many of them are there?! Are they all over London now?
I’d say so from my travels around London.
KittenKong · 12/11/2021 08:48

Yes not just rainbow ones. High St Ken did these ‘artsy’ one a few years ago - some with writing (which you can’t easily decipher, so people stop to look!). They are all looking rough and scrappy now.

Terfydactyl · 12/11/2021 08:58

@foxgoosefinch

Oh FGS. A road crossing has a very specific purpose. Where TF have people's brains gone begging? Will they be replacing motorway cats eyes' with glitter balls for Pride month next? Confused
Well now you mention it.... jk

I remember quite well reading that a lot of thought had gone into the original black/white crossings. Many ideas had been dropped as this was the easiest, cheapest, most visually useful, etc etc way of marking the crossings. And of course standardised across the country.
I'm all for looking again at things thst were designed decades ago and seeing if they can be improved upon.
But to just ignore all that seems a tad uninformed. It's like someone somewhere said 'ah yeah crossings, theres a lovely opportunity to fuck up the visually impaired people, result, less visually impaired people around because they get hit by a bus or self exclude from daily life. Win win.
Pick any other disability/ impairment, same result.

SpookyMargot · 12/11/2021 11:10

Even with lights you still get cyclists and e-scooters zipping through the crossings.

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