Zebra crossing lights not working

littlerock

I was out this evening on a cold dark wet night so everyone was understandably in a hurry. My journey took me down a main-ish lit road past a hospital on one side and flats, with cars parked along the road side, on the other. So there was a lot of traffic milling about and a lot of lights from the hospital.

I had just turned into the road and passed the parked cars (on my left) when someone stepped out into the road from my right to cross in front of me. He was dressed in black, trousers, shoes and overcoat, and carrying a large black umbrella held down low to protect him from the rain. There are no street lights at that point, and he was practically invisible.

Fortunately I spotted him and he spotted me and we both stopped so no damage done. He was in fact on a zebra crossing but I had not seen any lights for it. On my return journey I checked and both the flashing lights, one on each side of the road were broken. (The crossing was only marked by the flashing lights, which were not working, nothing else. It was not a pelican crossing.)

How does it work with this sort of zebra crossing? Does the pedestrian automatically have right of way, once they step into the road? I assume they do. But what if the crossing is in a busy area with lots of other lights and traffic and the zebra crossing lights are not working.

DUTR

littlerock wrote: »

I was out this evening on a cold dark wet night so everyone was understandably in a hurry. My journey took me down a main-ish lit road past a hospital on one side and flats, with cars parked along the road side, on the other. So there was a lot of traffic milling about and a lot of lights from the hospital.

I had just turned into the road and passed the parked cars (on my left) when someone stepped out into the road from my right to cross in front of me. He was dressed in black, trousers, shoes and overcoat, and carrying a large black umbrella held down low to protect him from the rain. There are no street lights at that point, and he was practically invisible.

Fortunately I spotted him and he spotted me and we both stopped so no damage done. He was in fact on a zebra crossing but I had not seen any lights for it. On my return journey I checked and both the flashing lights, one on each side of the road were broken. (The crossing was only marked by the flashing lights, which were not working, nothing else. It was not a pelican crossing.)

How does it work with this sort of zebra crossing? Does the pedestrian automatically have right of way, once they step into the road? I assume they do. But what if the crossing is in a busy area with lots of other lights and traffic and the zebra crossing lights are not working.

Hazard awareness !
The pedestrian has responsibilty for their own safety, there is no right of way as such, but you should stop to let people cross if it is safe to do so.

Nick_C

DUTR wrote: »

The pedestrian has responsibilty for their own safety, there is no right of way as such,

Wrong. Once on the zebra crossing, the pedestrian has right of way.

Rule 195 of the highway Code.

Zebra crossings. As you approach a zebra crossing

look out for pedestrians waiting to cross and be ready to slow down or stop to let them cross

you MUST give way when a pedestrian has moved onto a crossing
allow more time for stopping on wet or icy roads

Assuming this really was a zebra crossing, it would be marked by zig zag lines on the approach and black and white lines marking the crossing itself. If OP didn't see see these, they were either driving too fast or carelessly or with insufficient lights.

Edit:
And quite honestly, if you don't know the rules that apply to zebra crossings, you have no business driving a motor vehicle.

Car_54

Nick_C wrote: »

Wrong. Once on the zebra crossing, the pedestrian has right of way.

Also wrong. Nothing in the Highway Code gives anyone "right of way". There is no such thing.

"The rules in The Highway Code do not give you the right of way in any circumstance, but they advise you when you should give way to others."

Rover_Driver

It is reg.25, The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997 that gives pedestrians precedence over vehicles when they are on the crossing.

littlerock

I am not disputing I should have seen the person crossing and I did. But the zebra crossing is badly sited, being only a few yards from the main public road entrance to the hospital. So your approach to the crossing is often blocked by vehicles turning into or out of the hospital grounds (local buses go into the hospital grounds where they turn round on a roundabout to exit back onto the main road).

So your view on approach can be blocked until the last minute if a large vehicle is turning in or out. Indeed looking it up it is something of an accident blackspot.

My point was more what responsibility does a pedestrian have?. I should have thought it amounted to more than striding across a busy road, on a dark wet night, through a brief gap in the traffic, dressed all in black with your own view blocked by an umbrella. Onto a zebra crossing where the lights are not working. Incidentally I was later passed very closely by two lads on cycles, again all in black with no lights on their bikes. I at least have a silver car and bright headlamps to warn people I am there.

Ectophile

Rover_Driver wrote: »

It is reg.25, The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997 that gives pedestrians precedence over vehicles when they are on the crossing.

Looking at the regs, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/2400/schedule/1/part/I/made it appears it still counts as a zebra crossing even if the lights aren't working.

If you haven't already done so, report the broken lights to the council, so they can get fixed.

bigjl

I have always found that the zigzag lines and the large black and white section on the road tend to be the big giveaway that a zebra crossing is there.

The lights are a nice bit of extra signage but seriously how can you miss a zebra crossing?

As already mentioned pedestrians have right of way once on the crossing

Though one small point some pedestrians forget is that if there is an island in the middle of the crossing then it is effectively two separate crossings and you need to treat them as two.

Nick_C

Nick_C wrote: »

Wrong. Once on the zebra crossing, the pedestrian has right of way.

Rule 195 of the highway Code.

Car_54 wrote: »

Also wrong. Nothing in the Highway Code gives anyone "right of way". There is no such thing.

"The rules in The Highway Code do not give you the right of way in any circumstance, but they advise you when you should give way to others."

Full marks for pedantry! Although this advice is not addressed to pedestrians - you are quoting from a section of the HC which is addressed to drivers and riders.

So the code says you must give way to pedestrians on Zebra crossings. The law says that if the pedestrian is on the crossing first, he shall have precedence.

According to the Free Dictionary "The term right of way also refers to a preference of one of two vehicles or vessels, or between a motor vehicle and a pedestrian, asserting the right of passage at the same place and time."

So in common parlance, the pedestrian has right of way!

bigjl

Car_54 wrote: »

Also wrong. Nothing in the Highway Code gives anyone "right of way". There is no such thing.

"The rules in The Highway Code do not give you the right of way in any circumstance, but they advise you when you should give way to others."

Why not test your opinion with a practical demonstration

When being followed by a Police car drive through a zebra crossing whilst some pedestrians are crossing.

And see what the Copper does.

Then report back here.

Car_54

bigjl wrote: »

Why not test your opinion with a practical demonstration

When being followed by a Police car drive through a zebra crossing whilst some pedestrians are crossing.

And see what the Copper does.

Then report back here.

No need for a demo. The law requires me to give precedence to the ped. But not right of way.

Anyway, enough pedantry. From the OP's description, I take it that the crossing in question is actually within hospital grounds. Again according to the OP, it had no ziz-zag or other markings. So it wasn't a zebra, or indeed a crossing at all.