As you may remember, we’ve written before about the panoply of zoologically themed street crossing names, from “puffins” to “pelicans.” Contemporary urbanites are now creating whole new beasts out of pedestrian walkways, from do-it yourself (DIY) crossings in the United Kingdom to chic applied design in the Balkans.

While formal efforts to install zebra crossings in Grove, Oxfordshire are finally commencing after eight years, Yannick Read, a resident of Surrey, England, took it upon himself to improve road safety for his son by creating a “pop-up” zebra crossing using adhesive strips of linoleum, black plastic tubing and yellow balloons. Although the local city council noted that a proper crossing would cost upwards of £12,000 (US$18,570), Read installed his DIY crossing for only £50 (US$77.)  Similar DIY street features have presented themselves across the globe. Check out this video that Read posted about how you can create your own DIY crossing:

Similarly, Prof. Eduard Čehovin, who teaches typography at Ljubljana University, crafted his own modern crossings in Serbia and Slovenia, substituting linoleum for paint. His creations include askew stripes outside the Museum of Contemporary Art in Vojvodina, Serbia and a bubble-themed crossing (pictured above) outside Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The Health and Road Safety team at EMBARQ, the producer of this blog, has found several critical design elements to ensure safe pedestrian crossings, as published in its recent report, “Traffic Safety on Bus Corridors: Pilot Version – Road Test.” However, findings are still out on the effects of bubble-shaped crossings…