I remembered last Friday to call the Council and report the defective Belisha beacon at the zebra crossing outside the village shop (one with globe unlit, LED halos flashing erratically) - this week the maintenance team have shut off both beacons and locked off the entire crossing with a barrier (Belisha beacons predate zebra crossings, and indicate pedestrians have right of way, presumably the Council risks legal liability if someone is knocked down whilst the beacons are out..)
To the inconsistent rules in the UK adds drivers' ignorance as many of them have no idea about it, so when I actually stop to let pedestrians through on "the" crossings there's almost always an idiot honking from behind, why I'm so merciful to the two-legged savages, apparently... 🤦♂️
As result the pedestrians aren't too confident about their "right of way" either, because it's really a roulette...
@kravietz I am however in favour of a 20mph (48km/h) limit in all built up areas - in reality its very often impossible to /safely/ drive faster than that anyway due to cars parked on both sides of the road and it would make the streets less intimidating for those who are not in cars..
@vfrmedia I 100% agree pedestrians are often irresponsible but I guess the reason for "reversed liability" is that because in case of an accident they are always much more vulnerable.
If there was even a slight hint on driver's impunity in such situations, we'd likely have people intentionally speeding up "to teach them a lesson"... at the cost of the whole society.
I'm fairly sure the only reason there are fewer hit and run incidents compared to previous years is that bumpers are made out of cheese these days (compared to solid metal until the 1980s) and expensive to repair, and that drivers often mistake the IR detectors on traffic signals and light activated switches on some streetlamps for miniature CCTV cameras..
@kravietz also outside of Northern Ireland there is no law against jaywalking, pedestrians may (and very often do!) cross at any random point and once they are on the road drivers /must/ stop - they would be found liable if they knock them down, even if the pedestrian is staring at their mobile phone/listening on headphones etc (happens a lot around high schools)
I had to stop quite often around the locked off zebra crossing as people completely ignored why the barriers and sign were there >>