When consultants carrying out the pioneering Land Use and Transportation Study (LUTS) in Cork in the mid-1970s began examining how Corkonians crossed their streets, they discovered a distinctive pattern of pedestrian activity.
Cork Corporation's senior executive engineer for traffic, Dan Looney, explains: "The LUTS consultants found that Cork was almost unique in terms of pedestrians' attitudes towards crossing the street. They noted that Cork pedestrians zig-zag - whether they were pushing a buggy or carrying parcels of groceries, they would nip in front of a lorry, dodge around a bus, duck behind a car - it was absolutely incredible stuff."
Almost a quarter of a century on, Corkonians are still exhibiting the same anarchistic disregard for regulated crossing points. But the good news is that their native city is about to become more pedestrian friendly.
The Paul Street Plaza - a.k.a. Rory Gallagher Place - is now all pedestrianised, as are historic French Church Street and Carey's Lane - two narrow laneways leading on to Patrick Street which have undergone a major revival since being closed off to traffic.
The Grand Parade end of Oliver Plunkett Street, Castle Street and probably most spectacularly Maylor Street and North Main Street have all been redeveloped to make them made more pedestrian friendly with wider footpaths and the plan is to expand the number of people-friendly city centre streets, erecting bollards and closing streets at times to vehicles. In Limerick traffic growth in the past decade has underlined its main problem in becoming a pedestrian-friendly city - its main shopping street traditionally forms part of the main route to Cork and Tralee, where the N7 becomes the N20. Although most vehicles from Dublin and Galway are routed around the city with new road developments, O'Connell Street and Patrick Street remains as a main artery through the city centre. Nimble-footed pedestrians cross the three-lane, one-way street at speed, combining jay-walking with a honed skill of reading the traffic.
It has been said of Limerick that it has no proper centre but its Chamber of Commerce has a plan to further develop the urban renewal around Cruises Street and Denmark Street by incorporating part of the main thoroughfare as an enlarged pedestrian zone. The corporation was one of the first local authorities in the State to sign the Barcelona Declaration, which commits it to making the streets and public buildings friendly to disabled people, giving unimpeded access to wheelchair users, blind people and those who have walking difficulties.