Pelican crossing

Pelican Crossing

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Pelican crossing

A pelican crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing

Pedestrian crossing

A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a designated point on a road at which some means are employed to assist pedestrians wishing to cross....
featuring a standard set of traffic light

Traffic light

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A pelican crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing

Pedestrian crossing

A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a designated point on a road at which some means are employed to assist pedestrians wishing to cross....
featuring a standard set of traffic light

Traffic light

Traffic lights, also known as traffic signals, stop lights, traffic lamps, stop-and-go lights, robots or semaphore, are signaling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossing, or other location to control the flow of traffic....
s with a push button and two coloured lamps for pedestrians using the crossing. The official name is Pelicon crossing (short for PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled crossing) but pelican is consistent with other crossing types (see below) named after animals and, in particular, birds. The term pelican crossing is used only in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
and Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
, but similar traffic control devices are in use throughout the world.

The pelican crossing was the first definitive light controlled crossing in the UK, introduced in 1969, after the earlier failed experiment of the panda crossing

Panda crossing

The panda crossing was a type of signal-controlled pedestrian crossing used in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1967....
. Previously only zebra crossing

Zebra crossing

A zebra crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing used in many places around the world. The crossing is characterised by longitudinal stripes on the road, parallel to the flow of the traffic, alternately a light colour and a dark one ....
s had been used, which have warning signals (Belisha beacon

Belisha beacon

A Belisha beacon is a flashing orange globe atop a tall black and white pole. They appear on either side of the road at zebra crossings in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and in the former British crown colony of Singapore and Hong Kong....
s), but no control signals. The pedestrian lights are situated on the far side of the road to the pedestrian. A puffin crossing

Puffin crossing

A puffin crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing in use in the United Kingdom.It differs from a pelican crossing in that the lights controlling the pedestrians are on the near side of the road, rather than on the opposite side....
has the lights on the same side as the pedestrian; a toucan crossing

Toucan crossing

A toucan crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing found in the United Kingdom that also allows bicycles to be ridden across. Since two-can, both pedestrians and cyclists, cross together, the name toucan was chosen....
is a crossing for pedestrians and bicycle

Bicycle

The bicycle, bike, or cycle is a pedal-driven, human-powered transport with two bicycle wheel attached to a bicycle frame, one behind the other....
s; a pegasus crossing

Pegasus crossing

A pegasus crossing or equestrian crossing is a type of signalised pedestrian crossing in the United Kingdom which has a special consideration for horse riders....
allows horse-riders to cross as well. A HAWK beacon

HAWK beacon

A HAWK beacon is a lighting fixture used to stop road traffic and allow pedestrians to cross safely.The lighting fixture, generally suspended above the roadway, has two round red lenses side by side above a single yellow lens....
, used experimentally in the USA with a standard pedestrian crossing signal, stops traffic when a pedestrian pushes a button to cross, but goes dark unless activated.

Pelican type crossings sometimes have further non-visual indication that it is safe to cross, such as a beep, vibrating button or tactile rotating cone in order to assist blind or partially sighted pedestrians.

Most modern Pelican crossings includes a small metallic device that rotates when the green man is shown. This functionality exists for blind users of pelican crossings; in the North of England

England

External links

, on the introduction of Panda crossings, and subsequent developments.