Pedestrian crossing

It was the idea of John Peake Knight, a railway engineer, who thought that it would provide a means to safely allow pedestrians to cross this busy thoroughfare.

The semaphore arms were augmented by gas illuminated lights at the top (green and red) to increase visibility of the signal at night.

[2] On October 31, 1951, in the town of Slough, west of London, United Kingdom, the first pedestrian crossing in history was marked.

1 The US Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) advises that crosswalk markings should 'not be used indiscriminately' and encourages engineering studies at sites away from signalized intersections and STOP or Yield signs.

Its guidance is against installing crossing markings (without extra engineering interventions) on high-traffic routes if the speed limit exceeds 40 miles per hour (64 km/h).

[9] In the UK these are often called zebra crossings, referring to the alternate white and black stripes painted on the road surface.

Special markings are often made on the road surface, both to direct pedestrians and to prevent motorists from stopping vehicles in the way of foot traffic.

Pedestrian cross striping machines are special equipment professionally used to paint zebra lines on the intersections or other busy road sections.

Footbridges or pedestrian tunnels may be used in lieu of crosswalks at very busy intersections as well as at locations where limited-access roads and controlled-access highways must be crossed.

[22] In Santiago, Chile, a 2013 work by Canadian artist Roadsworth features yellow-and-blue fish overlaid on the existing crosswalk.

For instance, Chengdu, China had a red-and-white zebra crossing with hearts painted on it, reflecting its location near a junction of two rivers.

Rainbow flag-colored crosswalks, which are usually painted to show support for the locality's LGBT cultures, have been installed in San Francisco;[31][22] West Hollywood;[32] Philadelphia;[33] and Tel Aviv.

[22] The United States Federal Highway Administration prohibits crosswalk art due to concerns about safety and visibility, but U.S. cities have chosen to install their own designs.

[40][41] Marked crosswalks are usually placed at traffic intersections or crossroads, but are occasionally used at mid-block locations, which may include additional regulatory signage such as "PED XING" (for "pedestrian crossing"), flashing yellow beacons (also known as rectangular rapid-flashing beacons or RRFBs), stop or yield signs, or by actuated or automatic signals.

Some more innovative crossing treatments include in-pavement flashers, yellow flashing warning lights installed in the roadway, or HAWK beacon.

It also specifies signs and markings: the "pedestrian crossing sign" is on a blue or black ground, with a white or yellow triangle where the symbol is displayed in black or dark blue, and that the minimum width recommended for pedestrian crossings is 2.5 m (or 8-foot) on roads on which the speed limit is lower than 60 km/h (or 37 mph), and 4 m (or 13-foot) on roads with a higher or no speed limit.

[55] Zebra crossings are similar to their Continental counterparts, with white stripe markings, they must have orange flashing globes, called 'belisha beacons'.

Moments after, in some instances, a flashing yellow sequence (for motorists) can begin indicating that the vehicles may proceed through the crossing if safe to do so; this is fairly uncommon however.

[14][15] In the former case, these buttons are designed to give pedestrians an illusion of control while the crossing signal continues its operation as programmed.

[15] Sometimes, call buttons work only at some intersections, at certain times of day, or certain periods of the year, such as in New York City or in Boston, Massachusetts.

In the United States, San Francisco was the first major city to install countdown signals to replace older pedestrian modules, doing so on a trial basis starting in March 2001.

[72] Pedestrian countdown signals are also used elsewhere around the world, such as in Buenos Aires,[77][78] India,[79] Mexico,[80] Taiwan,[81] and the United Arab Emirates.

[80] In Taiwan, all the crossings feature animated men called xiaolüren ("little green man"), who will walk faster immediately before the traffic signal will change.

[85][86] Depending on intersection volume and safety history, a normal right-turn-on-red (RTOR) might be explicitly prohibited during the LPI phase.

A vibrating button is used in Australia, Germany, some parts of the United States, Greece, Ireland, and Hong Kong to assist hearing-impaired people.

The pushbutton locator tone is a beep or tick, repeating at once per second, to allow people who are blind to find the device.

"[93] Otherwise, the walk indication may be a "percussive tone", which usually consists of repeated, rapid sounds that can be clearly heard from the opposite curb and can oscillate between high and low volumes.

[90] As of the 2009 MUTCD, APS are supposed to be set to be heard only 6 to 12 feet from the device to be easy to detect from a close distance but not so loud as to be intrusive to neighboring properties.

[95] APS in other countries may consist of a short recorded message, as in Scotland, Hong Kong, Singapore and some parts of Canada (moderate to large urban centres).

[112] On multilane roads carrying over 15,000 vehicles per day, a marked crosswalk is likely to have worse safety performance than an unmarked location, even if raised median refuges are provided.