Side road zebra crossings will reinforce pedestrian priority, says study

The best way to reinforce the legal priority of pedestrians crossing side roads is to install ‘simple’ zebra crossings without zig-zags and Belisha beacons, concludes a study by academics Centre for Transport and Society, University of the West of England.

Side road zebras and design priority crossings are “preferred solutions because they support the rules for priority”, wrote the authors Senior Research Fellow & Transport Planner Jonathan Flower, and Emeritus Professor of Transport Engineering John Parkin.

“We also conclude that there is scope for the further use of ‘simple zebras’ without zig-zags and illuminated yellow beacons, and they may have a part to play in creating a hybrid of Marked and Design Priority junctions,” the authors state.

The UK Highway Code states that people crossing a side road have priority over drivers turning in or out of the side road. The study explored the types of yield that are taking place at 25 junctions, looking at three conventional junctions, 12 junctions with priority reinforced with road markings and sometimes a zebra (Marked Priority), and 10 junctions with a continuous footway and cycle track (Design Priority).

The position of the side road crossing in relation to the main road junction – called the ‘set-back’ – impacted on how often pedestrians yielded to vehicles, the authors found. In cases when the crossing was nearer to the junction there was “a higher proportion of occasions when people crossing do not yield, as it is their right not to do”.

Flower and Parkin said the “default approach should be for crossings not to have set-back, and that guidance should be revised to move away from a presumption for set-back to avoid blocking”.

Drivers turning right into the side road create most “forced yields”, the authors found. “Focus group participants expressed much concern about this turn movement. We tentatively suggest that driver training and possibly ghost islands in the main road may assist.

“Despite the guidance being wary about bi-directional cycle tracks, we conclude that they may be used without concern because drivers create fewer forced yields for cyclists than they do for pedestrians, and contra-flow crossing movements (where people crossing face on-coming drivers) do not create additional forced yields by people crossing.”

As an alternative to Marked Priority, the priority for people crossing may be enhanced with a raised continuous footway and cycle track creating a break in the side road carriageway, the authors suggest.

Effect of side road junction design enhancements and flows on priority for crossing pedestrians and cyclists

Jonathan Flower and John Parkin will be discussing their research at Active Travel Innovations 2024 in Manchester on 29 October