70 years have passed since the invention of the pedestrian crossing
Do you know when it was decided that pedestrian crossings should have black and white stripes? Or who suggested that they be called zebra? Do you know what a cow step is? Have you ever seen a floating zebra crossing? Which would you say is the most photographed in the world? And the busiest? The zebra crossings are anniversary and in Traveler.es we tell you about it.
And it is that 70 years have passed since the official installation in the city of Slough, in Great Britain, of the first zebra crossing with black and white stripes as we know them today.
Possibly the most famous zebra crossing in the world
It was 1951 and it was the end of a long testing process to try to protect pedestrians from being run over. In the In the 1930s some crossing points had begun to be marked with rows of poles and amber colored ‘Belisha’ beacons. But research showed that pedestrians and drivers ignored these signs over time. After several attempts, in 1949 an experimental test was made in 1,000 points in the United Kingdom – some even with blue and yellow stripes, others with red and white – to be officially introduced by law two years later.
Although the origin of the use of the word 'zebra' to refer to them is not entirely clear, often attributed to James Callaghan, then Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and later Prime Minister. It is said that during a visit to the research laboratory where he was working on this idea, he commented that the design was reminiscent of zebras. And so he was baptized.
THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED, ABBEY ROAD
The August 8, 1969 the components of the Beatles they met in the abbey road studio to take a picture for the cover of his new album. It had to be called Everest, but there was no budget to go that far and Scottish photographer Ian McMillan the idea was clear: they would cross in single file the pedestrian crossing of that same street.
In 10 minutes he had the job ready and also got one of the most iconic images – and with more legend and rumors - of the band. Today it is one of the most photographed steps in the world.
A VERSION WITH ANIMATED DRAWINGS
We have seen many variants of the image of Abbey Road, and one of the ones we like is the one designed by the charles schulz museum from Santa Rosa, California, turned the zebra crossing in front of Snoopy's ice cream shack into a version of the famous image of The Beatles but with Marcie, Lucy, Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
MOST TRAVELED: SHIBUYA KOUSATEN SCRAMBLE
One million people They cross the zebra crossing at the exit of Shibuya station in Tokyo every day. Have a synchronized stop in all four directions and that means that when cars stop, pedestrians cross from all directions. An average of 3,000 pedestrians during the 47 seconds which remains open.
This type of diagonal step It began to be used, by the way, in the 1940s in Canada and the United States.
SPANISH RECORDS
In 2018, Cangas de Morrazo (Pontevedra) premiere the longest zebra crossing in Spain. It measures 40 meters wide and the city council installed it to claim the pedestrian zone. The initial project was to build an overpass, but the Xunta denied it, and this solution was finally found.
In Algemesi (Valencia) just a few months ago they woke up with a 30 meter signage on an avenue near the train station.
In the Alicante town of Sant Vincent de Raspeig installed in January of this year two steps of 20 meters. And Floridablanca street in Cartagena accumulates 24 zebra crossings in just 800 meters.
Which municipality will be the next to break a record?
A million people cross the zebra crossing at the exit of Shibuya station every day
THE COW STEP
The first Cow crossing for pedestrians was inaugurated in A Coruña as homage to the cows, the ranchers and as a vindication of the rural environment. It was a dairy company (Big House of Xanceda) who, with the permission of the town hall, repainted the asphalt at dawn.
They remember that, in this autonomous community, there are 63 rural municipalities with more cows than people and that in Galicia there are almost a million cows, which amounts to 2.7 per inhabitant. Currently there are four Cow Steps permanently installed. And you can find them on social networks with the tag #PasodeVaca
IN CHINA, A VERY GREEN STEP
In China, a creative proposal for a zebra crossing was so popular that it ended up hanging in a museum. The idea arose from the Environmental Protection Foundation and DDB advertising agency. Looking for a campaign raise awareness of the benefits of walking versus driving, they created a large white canvas with a leafless tree that they installed at different intersections. As pedestrians passed by, the soles of their shoes were first primed with a light coat of green paint which was then it left a leaf-shaped imprint on the canvas.
Total, Canvases were placed at 132 points in 15 Chinese cities and it is estimated that almost 4 million people passed through them. Some of these creations were hung on billboards and one of them ended up on display in Shanghai Zheng Da Art.
FRENCH FRIES OR ZEBRA CROSSING?
In 2010, during the Zurich festival, McDonald's turned a zebra crossing into a serving of French fries. He did it for three days and in front of one of his stores. As traffic was closed in some sections, it did not put pedestrians at risk or go against traffic regulations.
But there are more cases of advertising at zebra crossings. Mr. Clean (Mr Clean) was installed at a crossroads in the German city of Dusseldorf to show that he cleaned better. And in Brazil, a shopping center Curitiba announced their sales converting a zebra crossing into barcodes.
WALKING ON THE GROUND… OR NOT?
At the main entrance of WatBueng Lang School, outside Bangkok, students and volunteers painted a 'floating' zebra crossing. It was an idea to try to get drivers to pay more attention to the immediacy of the intersection and thus curb the number of accidents at this point.
A survey already indicated in 2016 that 90% of people feel unsafe crossing a street, even at a zebra crossing. and this was an innovative solution proposal that has spread to more schools in the country and that they have imitated in places like Iceland.
MUSICAL ZEBRA CROSSINGS
In 2010, warsaw wanted to celebrate the Chopin year in some special way. And the city promotion office and the Academy of Fine Arts organized a contest for citizens to make their proposals. One of the winners can still be seen and is shaped, of course, like a zebra crossing.
It was suggested by two design students and, despite some setbacks for the Ministry of Infrastructure to give the go-ahead, finally Two steps were painted on Emilii Plater street, one of the most important in the city.
OF COLORS
Who said that zebra crossings couldn't be more colourful? Coinciding with the London Design Festival, in 2016 , Transportfor London – the government body responsible for mobility – invited the artist Camille Walala to create a colorful junction for Southbank Street. She got down to business working with road marking specialists and she managed to capture its colors and shapes in a new terrain.
Warsaw celebrated Chopin Year with musical zebra crossings
RAINBOW AS A FORM OF VINDICATION
And one of the designs that we have seen the most lately is the zebra crossing in a rainbow version and as a claim for different groups. It was first introduced in Hollywood, Calif., in 2011 and since then they have multiplied in many parts of the world. In some with controversy in case they pose a risk to road safety, although several studies indicate that a different color does not imply an additional security risk.
Paris, Berlin or Miami are some of the cities that have this step. In Spain, Madrid, San Fernando (Cádiz), Denia, Getafe, Vitoria or Las Palmas They are towns where at some point there have been zebra crossings with the colors of the rainbow.