The Belisha beacon would give some indication of date perhaps.
Indeed it does.
To precis from
CBRD (Chris's British Road Directory) and other sources:
Zebra crossings have their roots in pre-war days, when in 1934 the then Transport Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha introduced the practice of marking crossing places with orange globes on top of striped poles. This type of crossing didn't develop any further until October 1951, when the Ministry reacted to complaints that the crossings weren't sufficiently visible by ordering that they should have thick white stripes painted across the road to leave motorists in no doubt, but as the winter went on, the problem became worse - simply because motorists assumed that crossings would be highly visible and were unable to see the stripes in darkness.
The Transport Minister, JR Willis, complained that the measures to improve crossing safety had worked in the day and not at night, and their only course was to spend even more money to make them safe after dark. At that time, the 'Belisha' Beacon was just a glass ball on a pole and the Ministry considered floodlighting the crossings before it settled on the idea of making the beacons light up somehow, and in October 1952 a flashing mechanism was eventually sourced that could be produced in the tens of thousands. It was to be manufactured by a firm of clockmakers.
The whole story of Zebra, Panda, Toucan and other crossings is told amusingly in nine pages
here - and is worth the read as it often descends into Governmental farce - as summed up by a Daily Telegraph columnist:
"Nerdley, long a pioneer in urban traffic control, is to install a new experimental system of push-button-controlled pedestrian crossings. This will be combined with the beacons and stop-go signals at the present zebra, panda, wallaby and hippopotamus crossings, with a different coloured flashing light - purple, acid green, pink or beige - to indicate which type of crossing is concerned. When a pedestrian wishes to cross the road, he pushes a convenient button-shaped push-button, inserts coin in slot (change machines are provided), and adjusts dials on a convenient panel to indicate the time he expects to take in crossing, reasons for wishing to cross, nature of business on the other side, &c., &c.
The data is fed into a central computer and correlated with factors of traffic density, actuarial expectation of life, social relevance of the pedestrian and so on. Finally, illuminated figures of standing, walking, running and falling men, women and children in various colours and combinations appear on the signal equipment, indicating whether, at what speed and how soon the pedestrian may expect to cross, if ever."