Safe Stripes: Making Every Step Safer
Safe Stripes is a BluPrint Communities initiative focused on pedestrian safety in high-risk community areas, with special attention to school zones. At its core, the project aims to give new life to one of the simplest yet most critical road safety tools: the zebra crossing.
In many communities, pedestrian crossings are either faded beyond recognition or missing altogether, placing residents—especially school children—at serious risk. Safe Stripes seeks to change that by identifying existing zebra crossings that have lost visibility and restoring them through repainting and signage. These revitalized crossings serve as highly visible safety zones that prompt driver awareness and encourage safer road behavior.
But the project goes beyond maintenance. BluPrint works closely with the Roads and Highways Authority, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), and other relevant stakeholders to identify locations where new zebra crossings are urgently needed, such as near schools, marketplaces, and community centers.
In addition to the physical work, Safe Stripes incorporates community education and awareness campaigns to promote pedestrian rights, road safety habits, and shared responsibility among drivers and walkers alike. Teachers, schoolchildren, and local leaders are engaged in these efforts to build a culture of safety from the ground up.
Why It Matters
- Children in many communities must cross dangerous roads daily to attend school.
- Faded or missing zebra crossings lead to increased accidents and preventable injuries.
- Reclaiming and enforcing crossings is a low-cost, high-impact intervention that can save lives.
What Safe Stripes Delivers
- Restoration of existing but faded zebra crossings
- Identification of new crossing points through community and stakeholder collaboration
- Advocacy & enforcement with road safety authorities
- Education & awareness on pedestrian safety for schools and the wider community
Through Safet Stripes, BluPrint Communities is working to make the simple act of crossing the road safe again — one stripe, one street, one school at a time.
