“Okay, this video is looking at a pedestrian crossing. This is the Pelican crossing. Has a funny name to help you remember what it does. This one is Pelican.
Pedestrian light controled.
There’s a bit of artistic licence with the spelling, but I think you get the gist of it. Pedestrian light controlled.
When the pedestrian pushes the button that’s controlling the lights. The crossing works on a timer system so that the pedestrians have a set amount of time to cross the road and that means you’ve got a certain amount of time where you’re sitting, waiting on a red for the pedestrians to be safely crossing the road. So that’s the gist of it.
It differs from the puffin because, in the puffin, if you remember that stays on red for traffic for as long as people are crossing.
The difference here is as well that there is a different sequence of traffic lights for the pelican. The pelican lights as you approach.
You might see the lights from some distance. So you’ve got plenty of time to work out what’s going on.
You can see some traffic lights in the distance and, as you get closer, you see it’s not a junction. It’s actually a pedestrian crossing and it may be the clue is in the light sequence as to whether it’s one sort or another.
So, as you were approaching, let’s say the lights are on red so you have to stop. You might not see pedestrians just at the moment because the pedestrians may well have just pressed a button. You should at that point probably see some pedestrians around where the traffic lights are and where the buttons are being pressed.
So, we’ve got a red, we need to pull up and stop. We’re sitting and waiting for the pedestrians to cross and we’re watching out for any pedestrians that are late on the scene and they’re dashing across because they need to catch that bus or to get across to the shops or whatever.
So, beware of people coming in at the latest moment, remembering that, of course, that it’s on a timer. We don’t know, it’s not all the same time around the country. So, we’re just sitting and waiting for the lights to change from red.
Now, unique to the pelican crossing is the next light. The next light is an amber flashing. So, it’s red, flashing amber, then green, then amber, then red Okay. So what does the flashing amber mean? Flashing amber lights generally it’s about warning, isn’t it? You see a flashing amber light and it means look out for stuff.
In this case, you are looking out for pedestrians who are still crossing the road because the pedestrians will see a little flashing green man on the other side of the crossing or on the little box and that’s telling them we’ve run out of time. Guys, you need to get a move on.
Now for some people that’s easier said than done. People with mobility issues, anybody walking, people with sight issues, maybe parents with a pram and young children, they’re not necessarily able to clear it as well as some more able people.
So, while the orange light is flashing, that means you’ve just got to be a little bit more patient and hang about until everybody is cleared. So, the orange flashing light is really telling you to look around.
Are there any pedestrians still on the corssing? Are there any pedestrians or even cyclists who are nearby dashing across at the last moment? Look out for those and only when you can confirm absolutely that it’s clear and everybody’s safe that you can then go and that applies whether it’s on the flashing amber or the green.
If it gets to green and there are still people there, you really can’t be driving over people. That’s really not on. So, even if people are still a little bit late and it’s still on the green, give people a bit of leeway. But at the point that you can see everything’s clear and everybody’s safe, check around, check your near side and offside mirrors for any cyclists coming through the traffic before you move off.
Don’t move off unless you’ve got some space in front of you because it could be that you’re in a busy traffic street and there’s a queue of traffic straight after the crossing and you must not move forward and then sit in the actual crossing itself.
Think of it as a yellow box junction. You’re never going to be sitting in the yellow box junction without a way out.
So, there we have it, a pelican crossing. It’s the one with the flashing amber light in the sequence. The sequence being red, flashing amber, green, amber, red. And, just as a reminder, if you’re approaching on green and the lights turn amber, that means you should stop as well as the red. Okay, take care. Look after the vulnerable road users out there.”
