What is a Pelican Crossing
What Is a Pelican Crossing?
What Is a Pelican Crossing?
A pelican crossing is a type of pedestrian crossing controlled by traffic lights. It allows pedestrians to stop traffic by pressing a button and waiting for the green pedestrian signal before crossing the road.
Pelican crossings are an important subject for the UK theory test, particularly because drivers need to understand the meaning of the flashing amber traffic light.
How Do You Recognise a Pelican Crossing?
How Do You Recognise a Pelican Crossing?
A pelican crossing normally has:
Traffic lights controlling vehicles
A push-button control for pedestrians
Red and green pedestrian signals on the opposite side of the road
Zig-zag road markings on the approach to the crossing
No black-and-white zebra stripes
That last point is worth remembering. A pelican crossing is different from a zebra crossing and does not have black-and-white stripes across the road.
How Does a Pelican Crossing Work?
How Does a Pelican Crossing Work?
When a pedestrian presses the button, the traffic lights will eventually change to stop approaching vehicles.
The normal sequence for drivers is:
Green → Amber → Red → Flashing Amber → Green
When the traffic light is red, drivers must stop behind the stop line.
Pedestrians are given a period to cross while traffic is stopped.
What Does a Flashing Amber Light Mean at a Pelican Crossing?
What Does a Flashing Amber Light Mean at a Pelican Crossing?
This is one of the most important pelican crossing rules to remember for your theory test.
When the amber light is flashing, you must give way to any pedestrians who are still on the crossing.
If pedestrians are still crossing, you must wait.
If the crossing is completely clear, you may proceed with caution.
Easy way to remember
Flashing amber = give way to pedestrians.
It does not mean that you should automatically drive through.
What Should You Do When the Light Is Red?
What Should You Do When the Light Is Red?
A red traffic light means STOP.
You must stop behind the stop line and remain there until the signals allow you to proceed.
Never drive onto the crossing simply because a pedestrian has already reached the other side. You must still obey the traffic signals.
What If Someone Is Still Crossing When the Amber Light Flashes?
What If Someone Is Still Crossing When the Amber Light Flashes?
You must continue to give way.
For example, imagine the light changes to flashing amber but an elderly pedestrian is still halfway across the road. You must remain stopped and allow them to finish crossing safely.
Only proceed when the crossing is clear.
Can You Overtake at a Pelican Crossing?
Can You Overtake at a Pelican Crossing?
NO! the zig-zag markings means it is illegal to overtake within that area at any crossing
There are legal restrictions on overtaking near pedestrian crossings, and you must not overtake the vehicle nearest the crossing when it has stopped to give way to pedestrians.
The zig-zag markings also help keep the area around the crossing clear so drivers and pedestrians have a better view of each other.
Can You Park on the Zig-Zag Lines?
Can You Park on the Zig-Zag Lines?
No.
You must not park on the zig-zag markings associated with a pedestrian crossing.
Parking here could obstruct the view of pedestrians and approaching drivers, making the crossing considerably more dangerous.