Spending time in Zurich, on holidays. Cars stop if a pedestrian or a bicycle rider approaches a crosswalk. Reliably, all the time. A marked contrast to Perth, where MainRoadsWA eliminates crosswalks, with the explanation that people get killed on them.
So what did the Swiss do differently? Innitially the law said a car has to stop if a pedestrian indicates with a hand signal that he/she wants to use the road. This apparently still resulted occasionally in cars not stopping and accidents. So the law got sharpend and now approaching a pedestrian crossing is enough to force a car to stop.
Two different approaches. One puts vulnerable road users first, the other puts cars first. We create the environment we want….
are cyclists allowed to ride across the crosswalk or do they have to dismount and walk?
Not sure what the law says, but I observe people riding accross the crossing on bicycles and cars stopping. (I did it most of the time, just slowed down to fast walking pace).
I saw a similar situation in Sweden where the only requirement of the pedestrian or cyclist aproaching a crossing is that they establish eye contact. If you dont and you get hit its not considered the fault then of the driver. Nevertheless they do slow down to be sure of what you are doing at the crossing. I was advised not to stray near a crossing if I was not going over as the drivers might feel compelled to stop unnecessarily.
They also try to put 30k zones where there are crossings. Pretty amazing for an Australian to get used to but you can see the benefits when confronted with a crossing pedestrian or cyclist. The vulnerable road user definitely comes first there and its a whole lot easier to stop if the speeds are that low.
We have a long way to go here but we really need to make steps and learn from the Europeans how to look after the road users who are not in cars.
An interesting observation. I have had the same “crosswalks are not safe” story from the City of Perth recently. It is very frustrating. We are losing the amenity of our communities. The policy and design that continually improves the safety and efficiency of car travel is done at the expense of pedestrians and bicycle riders. I wished more people travelled to places like Zurich so that they could learn that there is a better way of doing things.