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Hackney Council adds dual zebra crossing intended for both pedestrians and cyclists

Residents question whether drivers will understand it

Hackney Council has completed what they say is the UK’s first zebra crossing for both pedestrians and cyclists. Located where a cycle path crosses Richmond Road, the crossing gives pedestrians and cyclists priority.

The dual crossway features one striped side like a pedestrian crossing and another side painted like a standard cycle way.  

Hackney Council told EastLondonLines that the Richmond Road crossing lay on one of Hackney’s busiest pedestrian/cycle routes with approximately 3,700 pedestrians and 3,200 cyclists using it per day.

Hackney Councillor, Vincent Stops, who is chair of the planning committee, published a photo of himself using the newly-painted crossing on his Twitter feed and later retweeted an Instagram photo of it after (almost) all of the cones and barriers had been removed.

Earlier, he had described the dual use crossing as ‘a great innovation’.

“This pedestrian and cycling crossing looks to be a great innovation and seems to suit the location. I know residents will welcome it. I look forward to its completion and using it for real. Hackney has been consistently investing in improvements to its streets to benefit both pedestrians and cyclists for many years.”

One local cyclist, Stephen Jones, described the development as ‘a fantastic idea’. “It makes it so much safer for cyclists. I still think anything to make cycling safer is a very good investment.”

However, Christopher Williams felt that the council needed to install signs to warn drivers of the crossing. “If the rules are changed people need to be told”.

The council intends to gauge feedback before hopefully identifying other suitable locations for similar crossings.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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18 comments

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whars1 | 9 years ago
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It might take some time, but I can see this working. The movement of the belisha beacon to before the cycle path is subtle but a clear change. Whilst I live just down the road I only use this occasionally and previously a decent minority of motorists would stop for cyclists anyway.

Now if Hackney Council could provide a decent link from the townhall to continue any journey towards Hackney that'd be great - a 100m or so from this junction you're dumped in the centre of Hackney with no help for cyclists  2

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CarlosFerreiro | 9 years ago
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LondonDynaslow | 9 years ago
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Is THAT what it is? I drove over that on the way to the velopark this week and I was totally confused. Clearly the striped part is a zebra and I stopped for a pedestrian crossing the road, but I sat there for a moment thinking "do I have to stop for bikes too?". I probably would have done anyway, cos I'm nice like that, but (1) it is far from clear that you are supposed to stop and (2) I would think there was a less than 50% chance of most drivers stopping.

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The _Kaner | 9 years ago
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The instagram photo shows 2 x pedestrians crossing without a care in the world, seemingly engrossed in their smart phones...totally unaware of any perceived danger that may be lurking on the nearby roads....
peds are cool and untouchable, cyclists are not...that's the message I get from this

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bikebot replied to The _Kaner | 9 years ago
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The _Kaner wrote:

The instagram photo shows 2 x pedestrians crossing without a care in the world, seemingly engrossed in their smart phones...totally unaware of any perceived danger that may be lurking on the nearby roads....
peds are cool and untouchable, cyclists are not...that's the message I get from this

Well let's give them some credit, at least they are actually using the pedestrian half.

This is the first zebra crossing of its type, but there are lots of light controlled crossings using the same pattern. Here's a well known example in Kingston upon Thames, with a well known problem for anyone that cycles through that town.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.41084,-0.300816,3a,75y,337.1h,66.11t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSrjTwzDr3cfzZpMU2PuE4g!2e0!6m1!1e1

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P3t3 | 9 years ago
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brooksby | 9 years ago
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When Bristol City Council put in a segregated (-ish) cycle path along (part of) Baldwin Street in central Bristol, they tried a different approach.

They just widened a zebra crossing which crossed the junction of Baldwin Street and Queen Charlotte Street, so as to encompass the width of the cycle path and the footpath, and raised it up level with the pavement and the cycle path.

I think that the idea was that cyclists on the cycle path would then have the same rights to cross as the pedestrians.

The powers-that-be forgot that motorists would want to come up to the junction line to get out of Queen Charlotte Street onto Baldwin Street, and that there's room for one car between the zebra crossing and that line. So cars just wait all up and over the crossing, blocking it.

And the motorists don't seem to be expecting cyclists, so if there are no pedestrians then they just carry on (I've had a few near misses).

I hope the one in the article works out better.

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atgni replied to brooksby | 9 years ago
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brooksby wrote:

The powers-that-be forgot that motorists would want to come up to the junction line to get out of Queen Charlotte Street onto Baldwin Street, and that there's room for one car between the zebra crossing and that line. So cars just wait all up and over the crossing, blocking it.

They probably need reminding of rule 192 of the Highway Code. 'In queuing traffic, you should keep the crossing clear.'

https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk/static/hc/hc_rule_192_keep_...

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Al__S | 9 years ago
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Of course Stops likes it, it's meaningless paint on the road that requires cyclists to "assert themselves" to use it.

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danthomascyclist | 9 years ago
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These schemes are all well and good, but drivers caught disobeying the updated rules/regulations/crossings etc need harsher sentences.

Without risk of punishment, drivers will continue to risk causing injury.

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gwildar | 9 years ago
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I cycle through there most days. Cars only stop if a person uses it unsurprisingly. I can see a few arguments soon.

I think they need to put up signs.

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ibike | 9 years ago
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Looks great. I assume this is the first implementation of the DfT 's changes to allow dual-use zebra crossings:
https://t.co/1zcN9v3q8g

Motorists will obviously take time to adjust but is there really anything not to like?

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CapriciousZephyr replied to ibike | 9 years ago
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ibike wrote:

Looks great. I assume this is the first implementation of the DfT 's changes to allow dual-use zebra crossings:
https://t.co/1zcN9v3q8g

Motorists will obviously take time to adjust but is there really anything not to like?

Thanks for that link. That was interesting and not, I'm afraid, something I was aware of. They should really sort out their terminology, though, or involve someone mathematically literate in the drafting of such documents. I hope some council isn't going to read the marking size range (at the end of page 37, para 3) and paint some tiny 2cm x 2cm bicycles on the road. At least, that's how I would interpret "400mm square".

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Notgettinganyfaster replied to CapriciousZephyr | 9 years ago
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CapriciousZephyr wrote:
ibike wrote:

They should really sort out their terminology, though, or involve someone mathematically literate in the drafting of such documents. I hope some council isn't going to read the marking size range (at the end of page 37, para 3) and paint some tiny 2cm x 2cm bicycles on the road. At least, that's how I would interpret "400mm square".

An elephant footprint is a square marking to denote the path of cyclists through a junction, its not a logo.

400mm square is 400 x 400 mm, it's standard terminology.

I do hope they have DfT approval for it as TSRGD 2015 has not been made, so, according to current Regulations this isn't a prescribed use of the marking.

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CapriciousZephyr replied to Notgettinganyfaster | 9 years ago
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Notgettinganyfaster wrote:
CapriciousZephyr wrote:
ibike wrote:

They should really sort out their terminology, though, or involve someone mathematically literate in the drafting of such documents. I hope some council isn't going to read the marking size range (at the end of page 37, para 3) and paint some tiny 2cm x 2cm bicycles on the road. At least, that's how I would interpret "400mm square".

An elephant footprint is a square marking to denote the path of cyclists through a junction, its not a logo.

400mm square is 400 x 400 mm, it's standard terminology.

I do hope they have DfT approval for it as TSRGD 2015 has not been made, so, according to current Regulations this isn't a prescribed use of the marking.

Well, if it's standard terminology, fair enough, but it still seems pretty confusing to me. Does that mean the markings are supposed to be as tall as they are wide? Wouldn't seem appropriate for a cycle (unless it's vertically stretched as some road markings are to account for angle of view). And 40cm x 40cm is still pretty small, never mind 25cm x 25cm. It's difficult to be sure from that Instagram pic with the pedestrians, but I'd be surprised if those cycle markings were as little as 40cm across. I really did try to think what those regulations were supposed to mean, but no interpretation seemed very sensible to me.

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Paul_C | 9 years ago
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sadly, you still have to 'claim' these new crossings... changing the law that much was a little too much for them...

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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Great that they've built it, but I'm left wondering exactly how these work.

With a zebra crossing, traffic doesn't have a legal obligation to stop, until a pedestrian puts their foot on it. Is the legal position the same for the cyclist, you have to risk putting a wheel out? This being London, if there's any opportunity to not give way to cyclists, you can be sure the taxi drivers will quickly be aware of it.

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RedfishUK | 9 years ago
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Interesting, but looking at the design, I'm not convinced traffic would stop if there was a cyclist there alone and no one on the crossing part

mind you, unless things have charged massively in London, drivers are not keep at stopping at zebra crossing full stop

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