Zebra Crossings

[MikeF]

However with light controlled crossings pedestrians have to wait until the lights change which has changed priorities from pedestrian to vehicle ie vehicles have priority with lights, and pedestrians have to wait, but with zebra crossings pedestrians don't have to wait.

No, you don't have to wait until the lights change, but good luck asserting priority over steaming A-road motor traffic. I agree the best solution is prompt changes, but any requests for it are rejected.

Well yes you are strictly correct in that pedestrians always have priority over vehicle traffic! And also don't assume motor vehicles will stop at red traffic lights - that is one of the problems with light controlled crossings as well as zebras. Motorists ignore the Highway Code.

....... I'm pretty sure that new zebras have also been installed in Norwich over the last few years including Chapelfield North and Theatre Street and more are planned, but I think they still shy away from creating new ones across A or B roads.

You may be correct in noting that zebras aren't installed on A roads as in my above example. Any examples of zebra crossings on A roads?

The latest crossings to be installed in Worcester are the "pedestrian friendly" Puffin crossings:

I presume that's tongue in cheek??

Any controlled crossing other than a zebra is designed to smooth vehicle traffic flow. Only a zebra is actually pedestrian friendly.

Examples of wording in describing puffin crossings
Vehicle users given clear signal when to stop for pedestrians - Vehicle users always have to stop for pedestrians!!!!!
Can help maintain vehicle traffic flow in busy pedestrian areas when a Zebra crossing would cause traffic delays - It's official! Priority changed to vehicles.

[Bicycler]

You may be correct in noting that zebras aren't installed on A roads as in my above example. Any examples of zebra crossings on A roads?

A few spring to mind. This one on the A5071 Moor Ln https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.76243 ... 56!6m1!1e1, turn round 180 degrees to see a newly installed one on the A583 Friargate.

[mjr]

Whereas the A road zebras I remember from my youth all seem to either 1. be on roads that are no longer A roads due to bypasses; or 2. have been replaced by lights, usually in a slightly different location away from where people actually want to walk... and unsurprisingly, StreetView shows plenty of people crossing in the natural places.

Querying OpenStreetMap finds some that remain, like https://goo.gl/maps/4dkpwNvBny92 in Norwich (there are others further out of the city along the A1242, and a few others). You can use http://utils.lukas-pirl.de/qtm_gui/ to build a query for the crossing_ref tag to have a value of zebra - sometimes they're a crossing tag with a value of zebra, if you want to do two searches on a town and be more complete. I found some that way in Cambridge and Northampton... and despite all the scandal of Bedford Turbogate, it did actually create new zebra crossings on the A6 and A600, so it's clearly not completely forbidden yet!

[hazecellar]

what did you get for x
dont say say cross roads that cant count surely

[Mick F]

I've often tried (alphabetically) to find plants/wild flowers/trees in order.
Hard ones to find have been:
T - thistles. I've gone for miles trying to see one!
V - Virginia creeper or violets.
Never found a U, X or Z, though I usually cheated with J and K as Japanese Knotweed.
No doubt someone could help with common plantlife on the roadside as per alphabet?

As for the other day, I decided to find ANYTHING.
I found plants/wild flowers/trees, or car model names, or architectural features etc.
X was a Citroen Xantia.
Y was a Toyota Yaris.

As I said, I never found a Z.

[gaz]

Think I've got some Zebra Grass growing in the garden .

[MikeF]

:lol:
I've often tried (alphabetically) to find plants/wild flowers/trees in order.
Hard ones to find have been:
T - thistles. I've gone for miles trying to see one!
V - Virginia creeper or violets.
Never found a U, X or Z, though I usually cheated with J and K as Japanese Knotweed.
No doubt someone could help with common plantlife on the roadside as per alphabet?

As for the other day, I decided to find ANYTHING.
I found plants/wild flowers/trees, or car model names, or architectural features etc.
X was a Citroen Xantia.
Y was a Toyota Yaris.

As I said, I never found a Z.

J Jack-by-the Hedge (aka Garlic Mustard and many other names) Jasmine perhaps or even harder to find Juniper
K Knapweed which in Cornwall may be less common than Knotweed
T Tormentil a common, but small plant perhaps not easily seen on a bike, Toadflax, Tutsan, or Turnip. Tulip in a few months.
U difficult unless you count Umbellifer family ie Cow Parsley, Hogweed
V Valerian or Vetch
X difficult. Xanthoria are common species of yellow lichens lichens on roofs, walls etc or perhaps cheating a little, xylem ie the wood of a cut branch
Y Yarrow,Yew

[Mick F]

Thanks!
Usual suspects for me:
Ash
Birch or beech or bracken
Campion or clover
Dock or dandelion
Eucalyptus or elder
Foxglove or fern
Gorse
Holly or honeysuckle
Ivy
Japenese Knotweed
Laurel
Montbretia
Nettle
Oak
Pennywort or primrose
Quickthorn (old name for blackthorn)
Rose or rosebay willowherb
Sycamore
Thistle
U?
Violet or Virginia creeper
Willow
X?
Yew
Z?

Usually get most - if not all - of those whilst whizzing along the lanes.

[pyruse]

It just so happens that when I'm riding, I look for things - usually alphabetically. The other day, I was stuck on Z.
I started to look for a zebra crossing, and I went for more than 40miles looking, and never saw one, despite cycling through a few towns and many villages. I finished my ride bereft of a Z.

It got me wondering.
Do councils not install zebras any more? All the new crossings I see are controlled, or are "courtesy crossings" in town centres on raised paving.

Then it got me wondering again ...........
Are controlled pedestrian crossings really only there for traffic calming?
Do the traffic lights make the traffic stop, so it proceeds in "pulses" along the roads rather than constantly?

A new one was created by the village green in our village in Cambridgeshire just this year, flashing Belisha beacons and all.

[Bicycler]

They all need Belisha Beacons don't they? Granted, the ones supermarkets put in their carparks don't have them, but they are an integral part of zebra crossings on UK roads.

Anybody else seen the ones which use a loop of LEDs rather than the traditional lamp on top of the pole? http://citytransport.info/Digi/P1050870-74a.gif

[beardy]

:lol:
I've often tried (alphabetically) to find plants/wild flowers/trees in order.
Hard ones to find have been:
T - thistles. I've gone for miles trying to see one!
V - Virginia creeper or violets.
Never found a U, X or Z, though I usually cheated with J and K as Japanese Knotweed.
No doubt someone could help with common plantlife on the roadside as per alphabet?

As for the other day, I decided to find ANYTHING.
I found plants/wild flowers/trees, or car model names, or architectural features etc.
X was a Citroen Xantia.
Y was a Toyota Yaris.

As I said, I never found a Z.

I often see signs stuck to things using zip-ties. Or do they start with zee rather than zed?

[Manc33]

When zebra crossings don't "generate revenue" (corporate speak for "profit") what chances are there of any being put in?

The square root of zero.

[MikeF]

Thanks!
Usual suspects for me:

Quickthorn (old name for blackthorn)

Quickthorn is "old" name for Hawthorn not Blackthorn. Quickthorn because it easily grows and can be planted easily for a hedge. I wouldn't want to plant Blackthorn - the thorns on that can often cause infectious wounds - maybe why it's known as "black". Blackthorn flowers before leaves bud out, Hawthorn flowers after leaves bud out eg May (ne'er cast a clout before May is out)!
M for May as well.
Can't think of anything for Z

[Elizabethsdad]

But what I hate is the zig-zag yellow lines outside schools - as they've been painted over again and again (as they always have to be in 110% good condition) so form big ridges and they are really uncomfortable to ride over !!!

Ian

Really? Not a problem in most places round here because of all the school run cars parked on them.

[Mick F]

Quickthorn is "old" name for Hawthorn not Blackthorn.

Not according to my Anglo-Saxon-speaking historian mate.

Can't remember what quickthorn is in AS, but the name is to do with "quick" meaning "alive" ............... and not dead.

The blackthorn looks dead and hard and brittle for the winter and suddenly comes alive with beautiful white blossom in the early spring. There are long and thick hedgerows of it up and down the country and it's a splendid sight in full blossom.

BTW, Wiki is wrong.
Hawthorn comes out in leaf before blossom and it's a poor relation to blackthorn.