COLOURFUL CROSSINGS: WILL THEY MAKE OUR STREETS SAFER FOR ALL?

UK councils are upgrading pedestrian crossings to encourage more people to walk safely across the road. But the science isn’t black and white…

- LIAM O'DELL

The streets of London are notoriously colourful, and even more so now that some local authorities have joined the Asphalt Art Initiative and decided to dress up pedestrian crossings in Pride colours or other equally bright designs. Some of these ‘colourful crossings’ being installed by councils around the UK are created with more than just aesthetics in mind, focusing instead on preventing pedestrian casualties. These upgrades have been done in the name of behavioural science.

Two cities in England that have just finished a pilot experiment with the vibrant aesthetics are Liverpool and Hull. The former had 99 adult deaths or serious injuries per 100,000 people in 2019 – making it the worst place in the UK that year – while in Hull, 44 casualties per 100,000 people were recorded.

“We call these colourful crossing ‘a nudge’ because in an urban environment pedestrians have a choice about where they cross the road,” says Dr Holly Hope-Smith, head of behavioural science at So-Mo, the consultancy working on the two trials. “We’re trying to enhance a crossing that’s already there so that people are more likely to use them.”