Motorists have become used to the presence of yellow lines on the road, but residents in Barking have now found that pedestrians are being guided by them too.
Barking and Dagenham council have painted yellow lines on a walkway in Ripple Road, apparently in an attempt to ‘tidy up’ a shopping area which appears to also include tidying up the people using it. Corralling pedestrians into lanes was previously tried on Oxford Street and only last year the idea popped up again with the proposal that dawdlers in the wrong lane are fined £10. We’re wondering how Barking and Dagenham plan to enforce the lines since clamping probably won’t be that effective in this case – perhaps with a traffic warden poised behind a wheelie bin waiting to pounce?
The lines have been painted in such a way that they direct pedestrians safely past those hard-to-see obstacles such as phone booths and post boxes which could at least have the added benefit of reducing accidents caused by unwary shoppers bumping into immovable pavement furniture. A Barking spokesman said that they would spend three months gauging reactions from local residents before making a decision whether or not to keep the lines in place.
