“Well, here we are again looking at pedestrian crossings. This pedestrian crossing we’re talking about now is the toucan crossing, because it’s not just for pedestrians, but it’s also for cyclists as well. So, it’s where two can cross, hence the name toucan.
Okay, so, how do you spot one?
Well, you’re not likely to spot one until you’re fairly close to it becuase really the only clue at the crossing is on the push button thing where the pedestrians or cyclists will press the button. You will see a little picture, a little image, a little icon of a bicycle and, when you seee the bicycle as red, it means the cyclists and pedestrians have got to wait. When you see the cycle is green, you’ll also see a little green person as well, and that will be for the pedestrians and the cyclist to cross.
If they’ve got a red for them to wait, that would mean that you’ve got a green to go.
So, you might also see some other evidence that there is a greater than average chance of you seeing cyclists because they’re not going to put a toucan crossing where they could have just put a pelican crossing. So, I wonder if you could think what else might be in the area on the approach, something that you might have spotted to tell you that there’s a higher likelihood of cyclists.
Ah, well done. Yes, a cycle path.
The cycle path that’s part of the tarmac you’re driving on, separated from you by a dashed white line. So, cyclists are actually using the road, but sensibly to cross the road. They might get off the bikes and then use this crossing. You might also find at the side of the road a pathway or a cycle way or a shared space pathway/cycle way for the cyclist and pedestrian to use.
In any event, there’s some other cues that tell you that the cyclists in the area. So, as we’re approaching, remember we’ve seen this from quite some distance away, 5, 10, 15 seconds away, because we can see the traffic lights.
From a distance, we don’t know if it’s traffic lights or a junction or pedestrian type lights. We just know there’s some traffic lights so we need to do something. As we get closer, we should be able to see quite clearly this is a pedestrian-type crossing and, as we get very close and we possibly notice these cycle lanes, etc. Ah, this is proabbly a toucan crossing.
Let’s assume that the lights are at red. So, we’re aiming to pull up. We should expect to see some pedestrians crossing the road because these are activated by the push button by the pedestrians and cyclists.
So we’re sitting there. There’s some people crossing the road. What are you going to do while this is happening? Well, we’re going to be going in a few moments when the pedestrians or cyclists are clear. So, we’re going to look in the near side and offside mirrors to see if there’s any cyclists coming down the near side or offside while we are rsitting there. That’s going to affect our decision on how we move off. We’re also going to look ahead that we’ve got some space to go to once we get a green light.
So what happens next?
We get an orange flashing light. An orange flashing light rather than red and amber. The orange flashing light is what most orange flashing lights mean. Warning, there’s something to pay attention to.
Make a point of what’s going on. What’s going on is there may still be pedestrians or cyclists on the crossing in which case you’ve got to wait. However, if the pedestrians and cyclists are clearly out of the way, you can actually go on flashing amber. So that’s quite a difference. You can actually go before the green if it’s clear. So, you’ve got some discretion there. But you’ve got to make absolutely certain before you move off that there’s no cyclists, no pedestrians dashing over to cross the road at the crossing from your right or from your left to catch the lights.
Okay, so we’ve got the red for stop. The flashing amber is wait until it’s clear and then go and again, if you’ve got the green light and there are still people crossing, well they shouldn’t be crossing. Well, fair enough. But you still cannot go on a green unless it’s safe and clear.
So you’re on the road again. You’re tooting off. We’ve cleared it. Everything’s safe. We’re approaching the next pelican or pedestrian crossing and the lights are green and they are going to change to amber. Amber means stop. So does red. If you’re crossing the line on the amber, then you haven’t got any space to stop. But otherwise, if you’ve got an amber, you should stop and then, if you’re coming from some distance again and you see a red, therefore stop again.
So, remember the traffic light sequence is the normal traffic light sequence but with the difference that you’ve got a flashing amber between the red and the green. Okay.
The other thing to notice about these crossings, of course, is that you’ll have zigzag lines on the approaach on both sides. This is to keep clear. Don’t park on there. Don’t overtake anybody who’s stuck or anything like that. Keep it clear so that you can see pedestrians as you’re approaching as you’re sitting around at the crossing and also that pedestrians can see up to the street to their left and right for any traffic that’s around. Okay. Safe driving.”
