On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 13:02:20 +0100, "JNugent"
wrote:

Annabel Smyth wrote:

[ ... ]

..... if you go to St-Omer from the Tunnel
via the N road, not the motorway, you used to go through a village
(now, happily, bypassed) which had no fewer than 9 pedestrian
crossings, as advertised at the start of the speed limit signs.
Never saw any pedestrians using them, though, or any traffic taking
any notice.

I have stopped at such crossing-places (in France and Belgium) in the past,
only to be met with bemused stares from the waiting pedestrians (who seem
not prepared to cross until all the traffic is dissipated - thereby undoing
the purpose of the the crossings) and blasts of the horn from following
drivers.


Same happened to me when I was cycling in France; stopped at "zebra
crossing" to allow waiting peds to cross. Result; peds continue to
wait, I continue to wait and motorised traffic continues to flow.
Bemused looks between cyclists and French people.