Let's-talk of zebras. Not so very far removed, unhappily, from
talking of graves. For it looks so far as if the zebra crossings had caused more accidents, some fatal, than they have averted. However that may be, it is quite clear that the zebras are far from the last word in safety devices. The reason is pretty clear. A driver is under no obligation to stop unless pedestrians-are actually on the crossing, and a pedestrian is very hesitant about entering On the crossing in front of a car coming on at twenty to thirty miles an hour some half-a-dozen yards away. To break a stream of traffic by stepping on to a crossing is a highly dangerous proceeding. But the remedy seems simple. Put a warning notice some twenty yards from the crossing, and require drivers to slow down at that point to, say, fifteen miles an hour. That would give the pedestrian a fair chance to get started. I write as (among other things) a driver who doesn't like slowing down, but realises the necessity.
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