The key thing to look out for is the presence of ZIG ZAG road markings. These are only used at pedestrian crossings and they disallow overtaking and prevent people from parking or pulling up at the side of the road in the area covered by the zig zags. These rules at pedestrian crossings create safer crossing conditions for the pedestrians.
At traffic light controlled junctions of course, the aim is to control the flow and interaction of traffic approaching on different roads. In it's most basic form, traffic in one direction gets green lights whilst others are held back at red lights and after 20 seconds or so, that situation is reversed and it reverses again after another 20 seconds or so. At those junctions with a strong pedestrian presence, this cycle is actually three way, so we have 2 cycles of green lights followed by 1 cycle for the pedestrians to cross which usually means that ALL traffic lights are on red. In other words, the pedestrians are being treated as a normal road user that requires an opportunity to negotiate the junction. To help reduce congestion, the pedestrian phase is usually skipped unless a pedestrian has pressed the crossing button to indicate that they are waiting to cross the road.
The reason for ALL of the lights changing to red when the pedestrians cross is that if any of them were on green whilst the pedestrians were crossing the road, you'd have a situation where drivers turning right and exiting a junction might come across pedestrians walking in the road. If that happens, then obviously the drivers need to stop to create a safe situation for the pedestrians to get out of the way but it would never be engineered to be like that due to increased risk to the pedestrians AND the congestion it would cause.
So if you see no Zig Zag road markings, then you are approaching traffic lights and not a pedestrian crossing. At all traffic lights, remember that the red one means stop JUST BEFORE THE STOP LINE. Stop lines are on the approach to junctions or crossings and not on the exits.
Whilst we're on the subject... people learning to drive often don't realise that there are different types of pedestrian crossing:
- Zebra Crossings have yellow flashing lights on poles that are often painted black and white and the crossing area itself is painted black and white. Pedestrians are encouraged to stop and waiting for traffic to stop for them at these crossings, but it is important for vehicular traffic to recognise that the pedestrians CAN just walk out if they like without looking and any traffic that hits them will be automatically to blame - the pedestrians have a RIGHT OF WAY to cross the road and are protected by law.
- Pelican Crossings are traffic light controlled. You press the button and wait for the green man signal (which comes on after the red lights have stopped traffic) before crossing the road. They can be identified by looking at the button (which has the word WAIT on it) and at the cones for the red and green men signals (which are across the road on these types of crossings, facing the pedestrians). The thing to remember about these crossings is that there is a flashing amber light after the red one that replaces the red and amber "get ready to go" signal. As with the flashing yellow light at the Zebra crossing above, you can drive over this crossing at this time as long as everyone has finished crossing the road.
- Puffin Crossings are the head of a family of crossings. They are very much like pelicans, but they use sensing technology to be more intelligent. If you press the button and then cross before the lights change, the button will cancel. If you are slow to cross the road, then they will keep the lights on red until you are finished. These crossings have the red and green men signals for the pedestrians on their buttons and there is no flashing amber phase of the lights.
- Toucan crossings are puffins at which cyclists can ride over.
- Equestrian Crossings are puffins that can be used by horse riders.
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