The Minister of Transport's intentions regarding pedestrian crossings have been
so long in gestation that their actual production is a matter for some excitement. But I am bound to say that they take a lot of mastering, and when they are mastered they amount to very little. There are controlled (by police or traffic-light) cross- ings and uncontrolled. There is general agreement that if a pedestrian chooses to cross against a policeman's hand or a red light he deserves anything that may come to him. Now the uncontrolled crossings are to be painted black and white (a colour scheme which is said to have salutary effects on both drivers and pedestrians ; a zebra exhibited it to me a few days ago, but my faculties were quite unstirred) and pedestrians are to have precedence. As an occasional pedestrian I am all for that, but as an occasional driver I see myself being comparatively immobilised. There are certain crossings where (especially about lunch-time) the stream of pedestrians is uninter- rupted. Every one of them will have precedence, and queues of cars may wait for a gap that never comes. What is Mr. Barnes' answer to that ?
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