High-tech zebra crossing misses the point

Perhaps it’s because so many of us pay more attention to screens than anything else or perhaps because large flashing spheres and huge bands of black and white road paint are seemingly so hard to spot, but a group of engineers has devised a stretch of road that’s effectively a TV screen.

The interactive pedestrian crossing responds dynamically in an attempt to make pedestrians, cyclists & drivers more aware of each other. (*Editor’s note: In our experience, pedestrians and cyclists are already painfully aware of motorised traffic.)

The engineers argue that road crossings have not been updated for the ways that we use, or need to use, our streets in the 21st century. Most discussion about road technology focuses on vehicles, but the ‘Starling Crossing’ claims to account for ‘streets with more cars, pedestrians and technology, and a different societal relationship to urban transport infrastructure.’ Shame then, that most of the media outlets that ran the story went big on the crossings ability to issue flashing warnings to pedestrians who are distracted by their phones.

The entire road surface at the crossing area is monitored by cameras and embedded with computer-controlled LEDs that can be seen from all angles, during both day and night. The idea appears clever, but is it too clever, impractical...and expensive? Schools around the country face an uphill to get conventional zebra crossings installed outside their gates. They are often turned down on the grounds of cost as each zebra costs as eye-watering £115,000.

We are great believers in a low-tech solutions. If haven't seen it before, take a look at our inflatable zebra crossing which can be set up in three minutes.

https://vimeo.com/161470468

If you want to support campaigns, such as the Safer Crossings for Schools project above simply buy cycle insurance, travel insurance, breakdown cover and home insurance from us - the profits help promote sustainable transport for all.

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The Good Shopping Guide each year reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly of the world’s companies and brands, with a view to supporting the growth of social responsibility and ethical business as well as a more sustainable, just society.

Beating household-name insurance companies such as John Lewis and the Co-op, we earned an ethical company index score of 89 – earning us joint-first place with Naturesave.

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