Talk:Belisha beacon

I always wonderd why they were called belisha beacons... (but not enough to bother to actually find out...) quercus robur :-)

Leslie Belisha was Minister of Transport — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.225.2.248 (talk) 02:55, 9 March 2018 (UTC)


 * Wow. Wikipedia is useful after all Shock! :-) Mintguy
 * This is one of the most ridiculously boring articles on Wikipedia! 78.39.102.84 21:40, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

further road markings
Belisha Beacons are associated with Zebra Crossings in the uk.

There's still confusion between 1934 and 1935 in the article.

=
================ Confused by a correct answer of "the 1950's" to a question on University Challenge about Zebra crossings, I just had to check this out - I "knew" about Hore-Belisha in the 1930's (it was a very risque joke to my parents!) so how could the answer be the 1950's ? I was wrong; the question referred to zebra crossings rather than the beacons and all is explainedhere

82.16.42.230 00:02, 16 October 2007 (UTC) Mark

further road markings
Belisha Beacons are associated with Zebra Crossings in the uk. Buncey.

Purpose? Operation?
How do they work? What do they actually do? When do they flash? Lots of unanswered questions. There 'is a rest of the world, you know. - Keith D. Tyler &para; 18:47, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

They don't do anything but flash constantly, unless/until the bulb fails. They're beacons, nothing else. The legallity of the crossing remains valid whether they are flashing or not.

On a side note, I'm sure Belisha Beacons can be found in other Commonwealth countries such as in the Carribean.

additional pop-culture references
umm, i don't do the whole "editing wikipedia" thing so i dont want to screw anything up by changing things.. but i wanted to bring it to someone's attention that "belisha beacons" are noted in a song by Radiohead called My Iron Lung. Here are the lyrics to the chorus: The head shrinkers They want everything My uncle Bill My Belisha beacon The head shrinkers They want everything My uncle Bill My Belisha beacon i came here to further understand what the lyrics meant, and, in turn, what belisha beacons were, of course. i think it would be good to add this in the article; i just don't know how. thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.129.248.194 (talk) 18:59, 10 February 2007 (UTC).
 * Not needed. I suppose that band has written songs about hundreds of things, iron lungs to start with. If every band did that W~ would just be full of pop trivia. 194.207.86.26 (talk) 09:33, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

Nicknames
When first introduced in Dublin they were known as "winking willies" 213.40.112.230 (talk) 23:28, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

Unsourced statements that disagree with the regulations
I've removed the bold text below from the article. It was lacking any citation:
 * To be legally compliant, every zebra crossing must be equipped with two Belisha beacons (though, legally, only one has to be working). A particular problem exists at crossings where there is a central reservation.  Since the presence of a reservation creates two zebra crossings there has to be total of four Belisha beacons.  Some installations illegally feature only one Belisha beacon on the central reservation intended to serve both crossings.  In fact, in this scenario, both crossings are non compliant with the regulations (since it cannot be determined which crossing the beacon belongs to) and consequently a single central beacon is a valid defence for a motorist charged with violation of the crossing regulations. 

That text disagrees with the Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations and General Directions 1997, which say relevantly:
 * A crossing shall not be taken to have ceased to be indicated in accordance with this Part of this Schedule by reason only of—
 * (b)the failure of illumination of any of the globes.
 * (b)the failure of illumination of any of the globes.

(Schedule 1, paragraph 4) and
 * One globe shall be placed at each end of the crossing and, if there is a refuge for pedestrians or central reservation on the crossing, one or more globes may, if the traffic authority thinks fit, be placed on the refuge or central reservation.

(Schedule 1, paragraph 1(2); my emphasis). It's possible that case law has "clarified" the regulations, but without a citation I'm not going to go hunting for cases. --bjh21 (talk) 16:21, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Flashing light
I stand to be corrected but I dont believe they had flashing lights in till the fifties 95.151.191.231 (talk) 08:06, 4 November 2017 (UTC)


 * This is a good point - the article should be amended to make it clear that when Belisha beacons were first installed, they did not flash - they weren't even illuminated. It wasn't until after the zebra stripes were added that attention turned to making the crossings visible after dark. (Zig-zags were finally added two decades later!) Lots of useful info in this article: https://www.roads.org.uk/articles/pedestrian-crossings/ Aswiseman (talk) 12:04, 6 June 2024 (UTC)