THE PEDESTRIAN

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 33, 8 August 1934, Page 10

THE PEDESTRIAN

RIGHT TO CROSS THE ROAD

LONDON EXPERIMENTS j (Written for "The Post" by Nelle M. ,' Scanlon.) LONDON, July 0. To cope with London's increasing traffic problem, and ensure greater safety for, pedestrians at cross-roads, many new devices have been brought into operation. Some are all, right in. theory, but do not achieve the desired result in practice. There has been a j constant change going on, and much of it has merely added to the .bewilder-' mont of both motorist and pedestrian, especially to the visitors to London. •

A short time ago, new crossing pla"ces at important street-crossings were marked out in white lines, but few seemed a^varo of the obligations they imposed. One country-bred horse, when its owner was crossing Park Lane in tho direction of Bottcn Bow, stopped short, looked at the five white bars, and evidently decided that it was a five-barred gate, and took a flying leap over them, knocking down tho policeman on point duty in the middle of the road. This horse was not alone in its uncertainty about what all these lines meant. It is claimed by the authorities that where these herring-bone crossing marks have been tried, no fatal accident has occurred, and only one minor accident. N,6w it is proposed to extend the system to crossings where the traffic is not controlled by either a policeman or traffic lights. At these crossings, the pedestrian has the right of way at all times, and vehicular traffic must give way. These crossings will be marked with a large C in white on a blue ground with a red circle. Tho motorists may not like' tho idea of giving way to mere walkers, but they are mostly in tho poorer, congested areas, where more people walk and few own cai's. This is purely experimental, and when tho result over a period has been estimated, it may bo further extended.