Here at WCC we’re interested in road safety for ALL, so we were intrigued when a new (and bizarrely contentious) kind of crossing started popping up in our borough: the ‘Side Zebra’! There’s only 11 in London and they’re all in Westminster. So what are they and do they work?
Side Zebras are painted stripes on the junction of side roads (minus flashing beacons). Since a change to the highway code in 2022, drivers must give way to pedestrians on ALL side street junctions, but @citywestminster.bsky.social did their own study of compliance to the new(ish) rule and...😳➡️
…found that 50–75% of drivers did NOT give way to pedestrians. Worrying data also found not only did 37% of pedestrian fatalities happen at junctions, but 50% of serious injuries happen within 20 feet of one.. So can a bit of paint significantly change that?
If yes, there would be benefits beyond greater safety. Not only are painted stripes much easier to roll out, they cost a fraction of our traditional zebras, which run up to £120,000 to design & install 😯, with London side zebras starting a mere snip at £5k. So ➡️
We visited one on Great Peter St / Millbank. Peak vehicle flow on the side road is about 250 vehicles per hour, with a peak pedestrian rate of approx 600 people per hour. As a result of the side zebras, @CityWestminster saw vehicle compliance improve from 50% to 80%! Superb but...➡️
Is it an anomaly? Horseferry Rd & Regency Pl is another eg (near the Dept of Transport!). It's close to a taxi rank, causing a lot of U-turns for black cabs, so a good spot for one. So, what did the Westminster survey find? Compliance improved from 35% to 85%! However➡️
Neither location felt busy by London standards, so we visited two at Edgware Rd tube, where 1500+pph use the street to enter/exit the station. We missed rush hour but at heaviest volume, there were staggering compliance improvements, from 20% to 80%! So why the controversy?
Although @maxsullivan.bsky.social is trialing them in Westminster, the department of transport doesn’t currently permit zebras without beacons, (as @chrisboardman.bsky.social knows too well). But the Welsh government has made the change & there’s hope we will too. But these aren’t even a new idea...
…if side zebras look familiar - it’s because they are! They’re already in frequent use in heavily pedestrian areas like hospital, university and car park settings - in fact, these are what inspired Max in the first place!
Lastly, for due diligence of our own, we checked out the busiest location for the side zebras. In Soho, at Wardour St / Old Compton St, there is a whopping 1600pph using the junction, with people spilling off the pavements into the roads. Frighteningly, despite this…
…drivers giving way to those on foot here had a meagre compliance rate of 30% before the side zebra kicked in...this was shocking to consider when we saw such an obvious dominance of pedestrian traffic. So, what happened after the stripes were painted..?
Vehicle compliance was doubled to 60%! Still room for improvement - perhaps because the road markings in Soho looked pretty tired (pictured is a fresher job on Ebury St /Pimlico Rd). So, what's our overall verdict on side zebras?
We think side zebras are a huge benefit for all mammals in the concrete jungle! Overall compliance was up 50+% across the scheme and 93% of pedestrians were in favour, too. And when safety is improved, active travel normally flourishes. This means …
encouraging more kids to walk to school safely & locals to make more short trips on foot (setting up great habits for life). And guess who benefits from not just side zebras but from all cycling infrastructure plans, other than cyclists? EVERYONE. Why?
Because new/updated cycleways often means that curbs, pavements, sightlines, markings and bus stops are adapted to be more safe & accessible. Another reason to support more changes in this borough and across the city!