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History of Zebra Crossings England 1949

As Zebra Crossings are a way of life here in England and especially after The Beatles made famous the Zebra Crossing near Abbey Studios, on their Abbey Road Album I thought it would be interesting to write its history. Since the Abbey Road photo was taken, zigzag lines at the kerb and in the centre of the road have been added to all zebra crossings to indicate the no-stopping zones on either side. The band Shriekback's album, Sacred City contains an entire song, "Beatles Zebra Crossing?", about the Abbey Road zebra crossing and its status as a tourist attraction.

There is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to zebra crossings in the science-fiction comedy The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy by English author Douglas Adams, in reference to Man using the improbable creature called the Babel Fish as proof to the non-existence of God... the novel says, "Man then goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed at the next zebra crossing."

A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. Its distinguishing feature is alternating dark and light stripes on the road surface, from which it derives its name. A zebra crossing typically gives extra rights of way to pedestrians.

After isolated experiments, the zebra crossing was first used at 1000 sites in the UK in 1949 in its original form of alternating strips of blue and yellow, and a 1951 measure introduced them into law. In 1971, the Green cross Code was introduced to teach children safer crossing habits, replacing the earlier "kerb drill".

In the United Kingdom the crossing is marked with Belisha Beacons, flashing amber globes on black and white posts on each side of the road, named after Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Minister of Transport, who introduced them in 1934. The crossings were originally marked by beacons and parallel rows of studs, and the stripes were soon added for visibility.

The crossing is characterised by longitudinal stripes on the road, parallel to the flow of the traffic, alternately a light colour and a dark one. The similarity of these markings to those of a zebra give the crossing's name. The light colour is usually white and the dark colour may be painted – in which case black is typical – or left unpainted if the road surface itself is dark. The stripes are typically 400 to 600 Millimetres (16 inches to 2 feet) wide.

If there are no additional traffic lights, pedestrians always have right of way on a zebra crossing. In countries such as the United Kingdom, zebra markings are used only where pedestrians have permanent right of way. In other countries they are also used on pedestrian crossings controlled by traffic, and pedestrians have priority only when the lights show green to pedestrians.

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I have recently decided to write articles on my favourite subjects: English Sports, English History, English Icons, English Discoveries and English Inventions.

At present I have written many articles which I call "An Englishman's Favourite Bits Of England" as various chapters.

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Ideas for this please? (FREE POINTS LOL)?

Sorry if I'm getting a little annoying. Well... I guess I never really post much... but still.

I am having a Mad Hatter Tea Party when the new Alice in Wonderland movie comes out! I kind of want to do one for the movie Alice too next year... but oh well...

I need ideas for funky food, decorations, activities, and music.

It's only me and my girlfriends, and we are all dressing up as the characters.
I'm dressing as The Hatter, Cain is The White Rabbit, Vortex is the Red Queen, Cookie is Alice, Pancake is The Cheshire Cat and French Fry is the White Queen.

So, what are your ideas?

Songs I have so far:

Mad World- The Red Paintings
Looking Glass- Hypnogaja
I am The Walrus- The Beatles
Alice Remix- Pogo
White Rabbit- Jefferson Airplane
Imaginary- Evanessence
Hide And Seek- Imogen Heap
Alice in Dreamland- Unknown vocaloid... no, this isn't Kaito's version.
Alice- Immi

Why don't you add the song Clocks by Coldplay to your list of songs? Have pink yellow and orange cookies that say "Try Me", "Eat Me", etc. Have the finger foods (like chips) put into a top hat! Also have a drink (I can't remember it's color) that you can call Curiosity. Oh, and if you can, spread black and red playing cards, red roses, or mirrors around he room. Ofcoarse don't forget lots of tea cups and tea! For games I don't have any ideas. Pin the tail on the rabbit? Pin the hat on the hatter? And if you haven't seen the movie Alice (it was on the SyFy channel) then you should watch it

Stephen Ward Singing The Beatles Norwegian Wood Cover with Paintings

Tags: art, beatles, illustration, john, paintings beatles, starwars

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 8:02 am and is filed under paintings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.