Pop-up Zebra
Over 2,000 children are killed or seriously injured each year on our roads – hardly surprising when even zebra crossings outside schools prove a battle.
Support our cause and donateEvery child has the right to cross to school in safely. Help us ensure that every school can get a designated safe crossing on any road on which it has an entrance.
The ETA pop-up zebra crossing campaign
Pop-up zebra crossing from ETA Insurance on Vimeo.
When we were approached by a group of parents whose request for a zebra crossing at a road traffic collision black spot outside their local infant school had been turned down on grounds of cost, we went about building one ourselves as cheaply as possible.
The result was a pop-up zebra crossing that could be erected in less than two minutes. And with no need to consider drainage, the excavation of existing pavement, disposal of material, new kerbing and paving, anti-skid surfacing, road markings, traffic signs, electrical connections and pillars, the total cost came to £50 – considerably less than the £114,000 quoted by the Highways Agency.
Faced with coverage of the campaign in the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Evening Standard and Metro newspapers and on numerous radio stations, the local authority concerned quickly installed the much-needed real zebra crossing.
Before evolving into an inflatable design, our pop-up zebra started life as drain pipes with orange balloons on top
Why is it so hard for schools to get zebra crossing installed?
Thousands of children struggle each day to cross busy streets outside schools, but appeals for zebra crossings are routinely turned down on the grounds of cost; according to the Highways Agency it is possible to spend £114,000 on a single crossing.
The astonishing figures came to light when Oliver Letwin MP campaigned for a crossing to be installed outside a school in his West Dorset constituency. When his request was turned down, he asked how much the build costs were so that the money might be raised locally. The £114,000 he was quoted included £11,000 for design work, an additional £16,000 for the beacons, wiring and road signs and an eye-watering £87,000 for labour costs.
What’s next?
With our experience of running Walk to School campaigns we are well aware that safety concerns can be a major deterrent to parents allowing their children to make the often short daily journey on foot. It is in the interest of every school, parent and council – every taxpayer in fact – to ensure Safe Crossings for Every Child. We have refined our pop-up zebra crossing concept so that it is easier for schools to mount protests of their own. The new inflatable zebra crossing is bigger, brighter and easier to transport.
If you are campaigning to have a zebra crossing installed, please get in touch with us as we may be able to use our inflatable version to gain you some publicity.
Please support our cause and Donate
Tim Earl
Why not take this idea a stage further?:
Have a removable crossing that can be put out every morning and evening and taken away for the rest of the day?
Serge Cornu
Where can I get some of that white adhesive paper?
Helen diplock
Hi there
I love your inflatable zebra crossing and would be interested in purchasing 1 for my local school
Could you please contact me with details on how to purchase one from you
Fantastic idea
Many thanks
Helen diplock
Hayley Munro
This is a fab idea, how could we go about buying one? Is there any rules regarding planning etc?
The ETA
Hello Hayley
Please email us at trust@eta.co.uk for further details about the pop-up crossing
SHIRLEY GRAHAM
I am part of a school traffic management group & this idea would help our problems massively.
How do I go about purchasing one?
Thank you.
Bampton Community Events
Hello – I’d like to buy one of these inflatable zebra crossings – are they available to purchase, please?
Avtar singh
Hi, i would like to know the costs of purchasing this? Great idea!
The ETA
Our pop-up zebra crossing isn’t for sale, but we do lend it to groups who are campaigning to have a real safe crossing installed. Email trust@eta.co.uk for more details
Eva RAYFIELD
Hi I need a zebra crossing as I teach children to cycle and need one I can easily remove
Thanks
Andrew Duncan
HMG has just released a paper about active travel etc. Electric cars are not the answer unless you can make them out of wood and generate huge amounts of extra energy. We are in a situation where we can finally walk in relative safety, hear birdsong an appreciate the quiet. Roads are for humans not just motors. I am a motorist among other things and find trunk roads and motorways useful but I DON’T need to tool down rat runs or have the damn car sitting outside my door.. Coronavirus is claiming many people whose comorbidity has been generated by sedentary lifestyles. If I survive the year I will be very angry if we return to “business as usual”.because that is not how human beings should live.