Taipei City rolls out yellow zebra crossings to keep pedestrians safer

2023-06-13

Road markings can be quite complex in Taiwan. If you didn’t grow up here, you might be especially confused by the multitude of signs on the roads. Add to that, the fact Taipei City is introducing several new types of zebra crossing! Today we take a look at some special types of colorful zebra crossing popping up in the capital. The “yellow zebra crossing” is designed to keep pedestrians safe and encourage drivers to slow down. Another crossing, with three lines, is easier to detect with a walking stick.

Zebra crossings are not the simple black and white they used to be. Here’s a black and white crossing next to a yellow and black crossing. But what’s the point?

Many people don’t know that Taipei City has adopted these colorful crossings from Singapore. Officials want road users to slow down when crossing them. The markings were trialed on five crossings in 2020, and found to effectively increase the braking of drivers by 5-10%. This year, officials are focused on rolling them out on school-run streets with no traffic lights. Eighty-six more crossings will be introduced by the end of 2023.

Member of public
I don’t think it’s very obvious when you’re driving a car. It would be better to raise it up with paint, so it clatters when you go over it. That would work better.

Member of public
They don’t make any difference. Everyone is the same. Nobody slows down.

Member of public
I always slow down a bit when I come to a junction, anyway, but will seeing that make people slow down? It would be better to paint a big “slow” sign on it.

Taipei City has previously run trials of a 3-D colorful zebra crossing, but it was removed after being found ineffective as well as likely to cause scooters to slide. Meanwhile, this is another special zebra crossing that’s more and more common on the street.

It has three extra lines – they’re guidelines for blind people. It’s 40 centimeters wider than a standard zebra crossing, and it’s easier to detect with a walking stick.

Huang Huang-chia
Taipei City Traffic Engineering Office
Blind people can walk forwards, following the lines. We installed 27 of these crossings this year. Our goal is to introduce these markings at all 191 of the traffic lights with voice signals in Taipei City.

All of these innovative crossings are designed to keep pedestrians safer and reduce accident rates.

斑馬線多了黃格紋! "彩色標記行穿線"提醒減速

2023-06-13

台北市從2020年開始，試辦一款"彩色標記行穿線"，在斑馬線兩側多劃了黃色格紋，希望藉此提醒駕駛人減速，也真的成功增加5到10%的煞車率，今年一口氣從5處增加到58處。

斑馬線不再非黑即白，像這處旁邊多出來的黃色，這到底有什麼用途？

多數民眾都不清楚，其實這是北市參考新加坡，劃設的"彩色標記行穿線"，希望用路人經過時減速，2020年開始在5個路口試辦，發現能有效提高駕駛煞車率5至10%，今年再鎖定沒有紅綠燈的通學巷優先畫設，年底前會增加到86處。

[[民眾]]
“其實開車不太明顯，我覺得你還不如做油漆凸起來，開過去會"叩囉叩囉" 那個比較有效。”

[[民眾]]
有跟沒有一樣，每個人都這樣，也沒有人在(減速)。”

[[民眾]]
“到路口本來就會稍微減慢，但是不會因為看到那個就(減速)，還不如寫一個超大的"慢"。”

北市過去還曾試辦，3D的彩色斑馬線，但成效差加上容易造成機車打滑，已經退場。而還有一種特殊班馬線也越來越常見。

斑馬線上又多三條線，這是為了盲人設置的"導盲斑馬線"，厚度多出0.4公分，方便視障人士用手杖就能辨識。

[[台北市交工處副總工程司黃皇嘉]]
“他(視障人士)能夠循著軌跡的方向前進，這個部份今年的時候，已經設置27處路口。我們目標是希望在全台北市191處有聲號誌路口，能夠全數搭配這樣的標線劃設。”

無論是哪種特殊斑馬線，都是為了提升行人安全，降低事故率。