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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