Jeremy Parker wrote:

Ah yes, a Barnes dance - named after NYC Traffic Commisioner Barnes,
who was Commissioner during the 1940s.

The Burnt Oak one was the second in Britain, I gather. There was an
earlier one in Sussex somewhere. Half a century for ideas to cross
the Atlantic (in either direction) is about par for the course, I
suppose.

There are hundreds of them already in London - it's just that most of
them aren't marked as such and don't have a distinctive audible warning
either.

The Burnt Oak barnes dance stated off as part of DfT (as it then
wasn't) research project S205Q. "Junction Improvements for Vulnerable
Road Users", project management by Faber Maunsell in St. Albans.
Mysteriously there has never been a report of the research, and none
is planned, although the research should long since have been
completed.

The most controversial junction "improvement" being researched was
the idea of putting bike lanes round the edge of roundabouts. That's
an obvious (to me) killer. If you are ever riding a bike round a
roundabout, stay as far away from the bike lanes as possible.

One good idea the London Cycle Network designers had was to put bike
lanes on the roads one street out from a roundabout where possible, thus
avoiding the problem.

(Aidan Stanger) writes:

There are hundreds of them already in London - it's just that most of
them aren't marked as such and don't have a distinctive audible warning
either.

I came across one the other day. Halfway across the road, I realised
that the pedestrian signals were green in both directions and I could
safely cross in one step instead of two. It is rather annoying that
it wasn't more obvious when standing at the curb.

jasonr (Jason Rumney) @ f2s.com wrote:
(Aidan Stanger) writes:

There are hundreds of them already in London - it's just that most of
them aren't marked as such and don't have a distinctive audible
warning either.

I came across one the other day. Halfway across the road, I realised
that the pedestrian signals were green in both directions and I could
safely cross in one step instead of two. It is rather annoying that
it wasn't more obvious when standing at the curb.

Probably the time of the pedestrian phase is sufficient for an
average/slowish walker to cross one of the marked crossings. Obviously if
you walk briskly, you will be able to cover the longer diagonal distance in
that time, but it would be even more annoying to slower walkers, if not
dangerous, if the diagonal crossing was marked without the crossing times
being extended.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

jasonr (Jason Rumney) @ f2s.com wrote in message
...

I came across one the other day. Halfway across the road, I realised
that the pedestrian signals were green in both directions and I could
safely cross in one step instead of two. It is rather annoying that
it wasn't more obvious when standing at the curb.

True - I've just noticed that we have one here in Balham, outside the LU/BR
station! Never realised before reading this thread!

Ian