Britain has done away with a thousand of its zebra crossings (picture John, Paul, George, and Ringo on the cover of “Abbey Road”). The London Times columnist Janice Turner waxes nostalgic :
And, while our towns are now besmirched with vile signage, clashing coloured lanes and ugly railings to imprison pedestrians, zebra crossing have a quaint charm. Belisha beacons, with their 1950s Toytown, Tufty Club associations, rank with pillar boxes and red phone booths as rare examples of elegant native street furniture.
Moreover, zebra crossings represent the British libertarian spirit, an upholding of ancient rights of way, the freedom to jaywalk, the freedom even not to have a word in our native argot for jaywalk or a statute in our legal system prohibiting it.
I don’t quite see how you can jaywalk in a crosswalk, but whatever. Save the zebra!
