Beware, elderly people getting crosser: OAPs demand revamp of insulting crossing sign

But campaigners are calling for it to be scrapped because it is insulting to today's fitter, healthier senior citizens.

They say it should be replaced with either a new image or traffic-calming measures to safeguard elderly lives in a more politically correct way.

Help the Aged said showing pensioners with walking sticks was behind the times

'The sign portrays a small proportion of the older generation,' said Help the Aged senior policy officer Lizzy McLennan, 26. '

Very few older people are hunched over, with a walking stick.

'They are assuming everyone who is old looks like that, and they don't.'

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: 'The motivation behind these signs - to make drivers more careful of their speed in areas with residential care homes - is positive.

'However, in practice a reduced speed limit in such areas, as implemented in school districts, would be a more welcome way to achieve this.'

The current sign for 'elderly people crossing' was the winning entry in a children's competition held in 1981.

Barry Earnshaw, chief executive of Age Concern Lincoln, said: 'I am 65, so therefore I am considered an elderly person.

'The sign doesn't represent older people as they are today.

'There should be a generic sign that is representative of all vulnerable pedestrians, regardless of age.

'The objective is to make people slow down - there needn't be separate signs for different types of pedestrians. It is very outdated.'

The Taxpayers' Alliance described the objections as ridiculous and a waste of public money.

Campaign director Mark Wallace said: 'They should pay more attention to the real concerns of older people - rising taxes and soaring household bills.'

Regulations introduced in 2003 did away with the caption 'elderly people' underneath the road sign because it was ageist.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said it would not be making further alterations.

'To change every sign in the country would cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds - and a change in the law.

'It's not a simple process, and I don't think most people would see it as a high priority for government spending.' 

Can you create a better sign representing all vulnerable pedestrians? Email us at pictures@dailymail.co.uk