Crossing guard

During these visits John's main character, a young boy named Charlie, referred to crossing patrol officers as "Lollipop men" for the first time.

The term became widely used very quickly and has crossed into popular culture, both in the folk world (the common morris-dance tune "The Lollipop Man" has lewd lyrics in one tradition), and in the pop world (see the song by the band Sweet).

The exceptions to this rule are Victoria, where local councils employ crossing supervisors through their local laws department and Western Australia, where supervisors are known alternatively as police traffic wardens, and are employed by the traffic management unit of the WA Police.

The Transport Act 2000 changed the law so that a patroller had the authority to stop the traffic for any pedestrian.

The design is based upon the Vienna Convention international standard roadsign for "passing without stopping prohibited".

The patrollers are employed by local authorities, but there is a greater degree of standardization of the system across the country than in the US.

Due to an increase in abuse, threats and other aggressive behavior from some drivers, some lollipop people have been issued with cameras, either worn on the body or inside their sign, to record offending cars and registrations.

[8][9][10] In 1999 it was reported that training in coping with the problem of aggressive drivers would be provided to School Crossing Patrols in Derby.

If volunteers or officials of the Zivildienst are not available, this service is fulfilled by officers of the local or federal police.

A Verkehrshelfer can become a Verkehrskadett (traffic cadet), if a higher level of training is passed, depending on the state's regulations about 32–120 hours.

These signs are removed from the poles and stored away while the crossing is not in operation and are usually constructed from aluminium, allowing them to be light and relatively easy to carry by younger students.

The nation's first school patrol crossing was created in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 17, 1921.

[24] Crossing guards, except those who are duly sworn public safety officers, have no arrest powers, may not write tickets, and may only forward the license plate numbers and other descriptors of alleged violators to local law enforcement, who decide what to do with that information; results may range from nothing at all to a verbal warning to a written summons and fine.

In Canada and the United States, crossing guards use a smaller version of the standard octagonal stop sign on a small pole.