Haven
Green
Replacement of Zebra Crossings with Pelican Crossings
Safety Concerns
Prepared
by Ealing Cycling Campaign
Introduction
According
to published research, the claim in Ealing Council's public consultation
document that replacing the zebra crossings on Haven Green with
pelican crossings, "will reduce the delay and danger for pedestrians
crossing the road" is false. Evidence indicates that zebra crossings
cause less delay to pedestrians and are safer.
Delay
Experience
alone tells us that zebra crossings cause much less delay to pedestrians
than pelican crossings. This is backed up by statistics. The results
of two surveys indicate that the average delay on a zebra crossing
is 2 seconds (1) compared with 18 seconds on a signalled crossing
(2).
Although
we know of no published research, it seems likely that the introduction
of pelican crossings will also cause delays for cyclists. On a zebra
crossing, cyclists can see pedestrians approaching, slow down, and
will often time their approach to cross the zebra when it is clear.
It is
not always necessary to stop. This is not the case with pelican
crossings.
It
is our understanding that traffic engineers frequently use signal
controlled crossings in order to "manage pedestrians in order to
permit the movement of vehicles."(3) Although the Haven Green development
is promoted as a public transport scheme, the result will be to
take priority away from pedestrians and to give priority to cars,
contrary to Ealing's stated transport policy. It
is worth noting that any benefits in speed to buses in converting
the crossings to pelican may be short lived. Evidence indicates
that when new roads are built they are rapidly filled with vehicles,
either making new journeys or choosing that route in preference
to another. There is reason to assume that the same may happen when
journey times on a route are (temporarily) reduced.
Safety
Our
major concern, however, is that this scheme may also have negative
safety effects. Research in London in the 1970s on replacing zebra
crossings with signalised crossings found that the rate of accidents
went up. We understand that "in all three studies pedestrian accidents
within 50 metres of, but not on, the crossing showed a dramatic
increase"(4).
Casualties
by crossing type London 1977(5)
Type
No. Casualties
No. Crossings Rate
Pelican,
340,
440,
0.77,
Light-controlled, 819, 1500,
0.56,
Zebra, 1427,
2850,
0.50,
(The
same paper also reports that "In Nottingham replacing zebras with
pelicans has been followed by a higher proportion of severe injuries")
Our
concern is that motorists are now to be given priority over pedestrians,
while simultaneously some pedestrians may feel a false sense of
protection. We are aware of a study from Manchester in which it
was found that many cars struck pedestrians while the crossings
were in favour of the pedestrians. It was found that 35% of male
casualties, and 77% of female casualties were struck during the
"steady green man phase"(6). We were also told at a meeting two
years ago by a TfL engineer that zebra crossings were safer than
pelican crossings. In the UK after years of favouring signalised
"pelican" installations, zebra crossings now seem to be making a
comeback particularly in city centre schemes involving traffic calming
and pedestrian priority with new zebra installations in Edinburgh,
York and Norwich. It is now argued that signalised crossings can
have a detrimental effect on pedestrian safety as they may encourage
the driver to look for signals and not for pedestrians (7). Our
conclusion is that the crossings around Haven Green should remain
zebra crossings unless the council can produce evidence that making
them pelican crossings will make them safer and reduce delay for
pedestrians.
Thanks to Galway Cycling Campaign for supplying text and information.
1,
Griffiths, J.D., J.G. Hunt, and M. Marlow. "Delays at Pedestrian
Crossings:2.
The Development and Validation of a Simulation Model of a Zebra
Crossing." In Traffic Engineering and Control, October 1984b.
2.
Griffiths, J.D., J.G. Hunt, and M. Marlow. "Delays at Pedestrian
Crossings: 3. The Development and Validation of a Simulation Model
of a Pelican Crossing." In Traffic Engineering and Control, December
1984c.
3.
Pedestrian Facilities, Meeting Report, D. A. P. Cullen, Proc. Instn
Civ. Engrs, Transp., 1997 . 123 Nov.
4.
How Safe are Pelican Crossings? New Scientist,24/6/76
5.
Pedestrian Accidents, A Special Correspondent, British Medical Journal,
1, 101-104, 13/1/79
6.Behaviour
and safety of pedestrians at pelican crossings in Greater Manchester,
Barbara Preston, Traffic Engineering and Control, Dec. 1989
7.
Research, Development, and Implementation of Pedestrian Safety Facilities
in the United Kingdom, US Federal Highway Administration Publication
No. FHWA-RD-99-089 December 1999
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