NORTH Sydney Council has confused metres with meters, and is more interested in revenue than safety, Pedestrian Council chairman Harold Scruby said.

Parking meters stand where no-stopping signs should be, he said.

Mr Scruby said RTA guidelines stated pedestrian sight lines should be 20m on approach and 10m on departure for pedestrian crossings but a crossing on Berry St at North Sydney had 4m and 5m sight lines respectively.

He has called on the council's traffic committee to rectify the situation, but it has not acted on the request.

At a recent meeting of the council, Mayor Genia McCaffery asked Mr Scruby to stop making exaggerated claims, saying "if we follow these guidlelines we'll virtually lose parking all over North Sydney".

"20m is an extraordinary amount: this has huge implications," she said.

An RTA representative said the council had misinterpreted the technical direction for pedestrian crossings and confirmed figures quoted by Mr Scruby were correct.

Mr Scruby told the meeting the council had confused parking meters with lineal metres.

"There are three schools in this (Berry St) vicinity it's a very high pedestrian area," he said.