Zebra crossings are so hazardous in China that police are taking action

Crossing the road in China, the world’s biggest car market, can take some courage – even when the broad white stripes of a zebra crossing should offer some protection.

As they are in other countries, drivers in China are supposed to slow down as they approach zebra crossings and stop when people wish to cross. But in reality this does not always happen, and since the traffic safety law was introduced in 2003, these rules have rarely been enforced.

This habitual flouting of the traffic law has for years meant that many pedestrians previously did not even expect drivers to observe a zebra crossing by slowing down and stopping.

But with more middle-class Chinese travelling to other countries where drivers do generally give way to pedestrians when they are supposed to, awareness of the zebra crossing is growing.

Now, traffic police across the country are also taking steps to make it safer to cross the road. In the past few months, the authorities have been campaigning to promote “zebra crossing courtesy” and surveillance cameras have been installed near pedestrian crossings without traffic lights to catch motorists who fail to observe the rules.