It's Summer holidays time, and I've dug deep into my early street photography archive and have discovered a nice selection of 'Pedestrian Crossing' photos that I took during holiday trips in France and Germany during the mid-1980s. Unfortunately I didn't keep a record of the exact locations, as I was mostly after the images of the signs, with an unexpectedly wide range of illuminated crossing people.
Today I'll begin with the red WAIT ones:
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| my jolly red giant |
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| keep hands in pockets |
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| gents in trilby hats must not cross road |
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| don't stand in the road |
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| minimal red |
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| twins must wait |
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| stop and count the dots |
In the UK, these type of pedestrian crossings were originally given the name 'X-Way' - as in 'crossway', just like 'motorway' or 'subway'. The 'X' or 'Cross' was exactly what the driver could do when an illuminated white cross was showing on the signal. A red circular light meant 'stop - pedestrians crossing', amber was 'stop - unlesss unsafe to do so', and flashing amber was 'give way as pedestrians have priority'.
As for the pedestrian: the red figure - 'Wait, drivers have priority', the green figure - 'Cross, vehicles are stopped', and the flashing green figure - 'Give Way - pedestrians have priority'.
The new 'X-Way' was launched in 1967 by the Mayor of Lincoln, in the City of Lincoln's very own High Street. The following day the Sheffield Morning Telegraph reported:
"In time local motorists will understand them, but strangers from places where they are not in operation will be utterly confused".
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| the latest addition to the collection: Blois, France 29th August 2013 |
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