What is a crossing?

Grey_Critic

Interesting question - the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991- makes no mention of what you do with anything but White paint on a Black Tarmac road.

Steve182

Anything that distracts or confuses motorists around a pedestrian crossing appears counter intuitive to me. 

NBLondon

Car_54 said:

Any approaching motorist will should still see an advance sign, and then the red/amber/green lights. 

Where do you live that has advance signs on every pedestrian crossing?   I've only seen them on urban dual carriageways.

You're right - the motorist should still see the lights if it's a pelican(or related) type and unusual colours on the road would be a hint to be aware that something is coming up.

Manxman_in_exile

@Cross_Man -  count yourself lucky you don't live on the Isle of Man... 

Douglas promenade has been undergoing (or suffering more like) an extensive refurbishment for the last several years (but seems like decades).  As part of that refurbishment they have installed multiple different types (and different coloured) pedestrian crossings which are apparently causing no end of confusion for drivers and pedestrians alike.

An example:  Coloured crossings being installed on Douglas Prom - Manx Radio

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(NB - The Isle of Man already has an unfortunate recent history in connection with non-standard road crossings:

Inquest finds cyclist died after crash on 'inadequately-marked crossing' - BBC News

Review called into safety of uncontrolled crossings on Isle of Man - BBC News)

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They've also introduced "Roundels" on Douglas promenade - which might actually be a good idea as 99% of Manx drivers get confused at roundabouts   

Pedestrians and Vehicles Have Equal Priority on Roundels – Gef – Isle of Man

Traffic MAYHEM on Douglas Promenade - Isle of Man Roundels - YouTube   (If you look carefully you'll see three different types of pedestrian cossing - two non standard - on the three approaches to the roundel)

Car_54

Manxman_in_exile said:

@Cross_Man -  count yourself lucky you don't live on the Isle of Man... 

Douglas promenade has been undergoing (or suffering more like) an extensive refurbishment for the last several years (but seems like decades).  As part of that refurbishment they have installed multiple different types (and different coloured) pedestrian crossings which are apparently causing no end of confusion for drivers and pedestrians alike.

An example:  Coloured crossings being installed on Douglas Prom - Manx Radio

============================================================================================

(NB - The Isle of Man already has an unfortunate recent history in connection with non-standard road crossings:

Inquest finds cyclist died after crash on 'inadequately-marked crossing' - BBC News

Review called into safety of uncontrolled crossings on Isle of Man - BBC News)

=================================================================================================

They've also introduced "Roundels" on Douglas promenade - which might actually be a good idea as 99% of Manx drivers get confused at roundabouts   

Pedestrians and Vehicles Have Equal Priority on Roundels – Gef – Isle of Man

Traffic MAYHEM on Douglas Promenade - Isle of Man Roundels - YouTube   (If you look carefully you'll see three different types of pedestrian cossing - two non standard - on the three approaches to the roundel)

Designed by committee after a good lunch?

I have to confess I know very little about the IOM. The reports refer to the Highway Code - do they 'borrow' the UK one, or is there an IOM version? 

Manxman_in_exile

I wasn't sure because I'd left before I learned to drive.  But it would appear that there is a separate IoM Highway Code.  How far it actually differs from the UK I don't know, but I suspect it doesn't include the recent UK amendments.

The link to a PDF is top right of this page:  Isle of Man Government - Highway Code

Just having a quick look at it, I'm surprised it keeps referring to "Great Britain" (as opposed to the Isle of Man) when I think it should strictly refer to "the United Kingdom".  (The IoM being considered a part of GB but not the UK).

user1977

Manxman_in_exile said:

The IoM being considered a part of GB

Considered by whom? I think GB is pretty much universally just England, Scotland & Wales (or geographically, the main island) - I don't recall anybody including the IoM.

Handy Venn diagram here:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Isles_Venn_Diagram-en_(3).png

Car_54

user1977 said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

The IoM being considered a part of GB

Considered by whom? I think GB is pretty much universally just England, Scotland & Wales (or geographically, the main island) - I don't recall anybody including the IoM.

Handy Venn diagram here:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Isles_Venn_Diagram-en_(3).png

Exactly. Defined as such in law, e.g. the 1707 Acts of Union. The UK is the UK of GB and NI. If IOM was part of GB it would then be part of the UK, which it isn’t.

IOM is part of the British Isles.

Manxman_in_exile

Considered by most Manx people - but they're mistaken as that diagram shows.

Just about everybody over there knows they aren't part of the UK (and they get very touchy at any suggestion that they are part of the UK) but they do tend to think of themselves as part of GB.  I think that's because of having "British" nationality and passports, and for a few sports people competing under a team GB flag.

The UK govt can sometimes make it unnecessarily confusing too.  I had some difficulty at work some years ago producing right to work documents because the then UK govt guidance was less than clear in its references to "UK passports" and "British citizen".  (i had a passport showing I was a British citizen, but my passport was not a UK passport and caused some consternation for a while).

But I'm still surprised the HC refers to Great Britain rather than the UK  (or even "the mainland" or "adjacent island"     )

NBLondon

Manxman_in_exile said:

They've also introduced "Roundels" on Douglas promenade - which might actually be a good idea as 99% of Manx drivers get confused at roundabouts   

Is this perhaps meant to be used like the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter-in-turn junctions in the Channel Islands?  A good idea - as long as everyone a) knows the rules and b) follows them.