I think the occasional little dance of “oops, I accidentally made that car stop by standing too close to it, I will get away from the zebra crossing” is a relatively small cost.
When there is a junction where one car (lets say turning to join the main road) has to give way to other cars, would you always put a traffic light/stop sign? Or would you let people look and go when its clear? I think it depends on the speed of the road, and whether the traffic levels mean that a gap is actually going to appear in a reasonable timeframe. I would apply the same logic to zebra crossings vs traffic light crossings.
Stop signs will often (eg. at night) cause unnecessary vehicle stops. Traffic lights are more expensive than paint, and keep pedestrians waiting as they press a button (even with a fast button system time is wasted), and keep cars waiting for it to turn green again even after people have finished crossing. So the basic zebra has some advantages.
When there is a junction where one car (lets say turning to join the main road) has to give way to other cars, would you always put a traffic light/stop sign?
In such a case, a stop sign is placed on the smaller road, not the main road.
Stop signs will often (eg. at night) cause unnecessary vehicle stops.
If the caused stops really are unnecessary, then there are too many stop signs. But having drivers have to look around for pedestrians wanting to cross, at night, is a much, much worse solution.
Yes, you could use a stop sign. I am used to (in the UK) them instead putting the white road markings that mean “give way”. I am not sure how much value the stop sign adds, because when they start moving again we still need to trust to the driver’s vision. I suppose we need to place less faith in their judgement.
Zebra crossings are always well lit for that reason. But yes, a sensible pedestrian (esp. at night) would not step in front of a speeding car, but instead signal their intention to cross and begin crossing when the car stops or slows. I did a quick look for statistics on zebra crossing injuries and deaths and couldn’t find anything clear in 5 mins, instead I found a news article about the country’s “most dangerous zebra crossing” being turned into traffic lights. It has videos, which basically show everything you are thinking can go wrong, going wrong. (A link if you are interested : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66298370 )
I think the occasional little dance of “oops, I accidentally made that car stop by standing too close to it, I will get away from the zebra crossing” is a relatively small cost.
When there is a junction where one car (lets say turning to join the main road) has to give way to other cars, would you always put a traffic light/stop sign? Or would you let people look and go when its clear? I think it depends on the speed of the road, and whether the traffic levels mean that a gap is actually going to appear in a reasonable timeframe. I would apply the same logic to zebra crossings vs traffic light crossings.
Stop signs will often (eg. at night) cause unnecessary vehicle stops. Traffic lights are more expensive than paint, and keep pedestrians waiting as they press a button (even with a fast button system time is wasted), and keep cars waiting for it to turn green again even after people have finished crossing. So the basic zebra has some advantages.
In such a case, a stop sign is placed on the smaller road, not the main road.
If the caused stops really are unnecessary, then there are too many stop signs. But having drivers have to look around for pedestrians wanting to cross, at night, is a much, much worse solution.
Yes, you could use a stop sign. I am used to (in the UK) them instead putting the white road markings that mean “give way”. I am not sure how much value the stop sign adds, because when they start moving again we still need to trust to the driver’s vision. I suppose we need to place less faith in their judgement.
Zebra crossings are always well lit for that reason. But yes, a sensible pedestrian (esp. at night) would not step in front of a speeding car, but instead signal their intention to cross and begin crossing when the car stops or slows. I did a quick look for statistics on zebra crossing injuries and deaths and couldn’t find anything clear in 5 mins, instead I found a news article about the country’s “most dangerous zebra crossing” being turned into traffic lights. It has videos, which basically show everything you are thinking can go wrong, going wrong. (A link if you are interested : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-66298370 )