Cross drivers at pelican crossing

From Christopher Davey.

YOU reported (JEP, 20 November) that both pedestrians and drivers have been increasingly abusing pelican crossings.

This is inevitable, of course, and could well soon be directly responsible for an accident.

The pelican was developed from the zebra crossing to deal with the situation where pedestrians wish to cross multiple traffic lanes, as at the eastern end of Victoria Avenue. But, in Jersey, pelicans have been allowed to proliferate without due thought.

Just one typical example being the pelican at the junction of Val Plaisant, New Street and Devonshire Place. It is very rarely used and if someone does push the button, the gap is so narrow that they have long since given up waiting for the light to change and crossed on the red, to the fury of subsequent drivers sitting waiting for nobody.

Apart from having been a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, it is routinely ignored, mostly by pedestrians, but even by drivers.

It used to be a zebra: it should revert to being a zebra, as should many other such examples within the town.