André Zammit in his letter to The Times entitled Zebra Crossing Standards (September 20) refers to an “in-house manual quoted by Transport Malta” and goes on to state that he has “always used UK Ministry of Transport, Italian Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici and American Association of State Highway official manuals both in lecturing and in practice”. It may interest Mr Zammit to know that Design Manual for Roads and Bridges TD 16/07 Geometric Design of Roundabouts is not in fact an “in-house manual” but the very same official UK Department for Transport official manual which he has presumably used both in his lecturing and practice. These UK Department of Transport Highway Agency road design standards were transposed into Maltese national legislation back in 2003 and have since been applied to the design and upgrade of roundabouts in Malta.

Section 5 paragraph 5.5 of the aforementioned UK standards stipulate that “where provided, stand-alone pedestrian crossing facilities should be located to suit pedestrian desire lines. If possible, they should be outside of the flared section to keep the crossing short, as shown in Figure 5/1. Zebra crossings should be located between five metres and 20 metres from the give-way line”.

The assessment by Transport Malta of this particular zebra crossing design, which was proposed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop as part of the Valletta terminus project, took into consideration the particular requirement for zebra crossings to be located outside of the flared section and to be preferably located between five metres and 20 metres from the give-way of the roundabout. It was noted that the former location of the zebra crossing was some 60 metres away from the give-way markings, and it was observed that, in this position, a high proportion of pedestrians coming from the Crucifix Hill direction actually crossed Ġlormu Cassar Avenue randomly and informally in the vicinity of the roundabout’s traffic splitter island (the main pedestrian desire line) instead of making any use of the zebra crossing facility further up the road.

Transport Malta has, however, taken note of the concern being voiced by certain readers of The Times relating to visibility of road markings on this new zebra crossing facility at certain times of day and shall be immediately undertaking a number of safety remedial measures to this design such as extension of the splitter island, improved road markings, better lighting at night and introduction of anti-skid surfacing on the approaches to ensure that all motorists are aware of the presence of a new zebra crossing facility.

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