Our children deserve safer streets

If the test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable, then road danger is an indictment of how we do things currently in Britain.

Take for example the road featured in the video below. Crossed by hundreds of children every day, no provision is made for their safety because the road is classed as a 'priority 3 situation', which means no significant redesign is deemed necessary.

When we took our inflatable pop-up zebra crossing to Boundaries Road in Balham, London, we witnessed countless children squeezing past cars and being forced back onto the pavement. Most of the drivers, many of whom were ferrying children to school, were reluctant to stop for kids trying to cross the road.

https://vimeo.com/336566804

What is a pop-up zebra crossing?

When we were approached by a group of parents in London whose request for a zebra crossing at a road traffic collision black spot outside their local infant school had been turned down on grounds of cost, we went about building one ourselves as cheaply as possible.

The result was a pop-up zebra crossing that could be erected in less than two minutes. And with no need to consider drainage, the excavation of existing pavement, disposal of material, new kerbing and paving, anti-skid surfacing, road markings, traffic signs, electrical connections and pillars, the total cost came to £50 – considerably less than the £114,000 quoted by the Highways Agency.

Faced with coverage of the campaign in the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Evening Standard and Metro newspapers and on numerous radio stations, the local authority quickly installed the much-needed real zebra crossing.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance, breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK's most ethical provider.

{{cta-cycling}}