Pelican and puffin crossing

As a child I was never taught about the different types of crossings there are when you have to cross the road. All we were taught was to wait if the man was red and go if the man was green. As an adult learning to drive, it is very important to learn about the different types of crossings you may come across when driving. Some crossings require you to stop while others do not (depending on the circumstances). Most people get confused with a pelican and puffin crossing so let's find out the difference between the two.

What is a Pelican Crossing?

The pelican crossing was first introduced in the UK in 1969; it is still the most popular crossing here in the UK. Pelican crossings have a standard set of traffic lights at the opposite side of the road where the pedestrians are crossing. There are also two men; a green man for go and a red man for stop. There is a push button box to operate this. When the push button has been pressed, the box will light up saying wait; this is when you have to check whether the green man is indicating to ‘go’ or the red man is indicating to ‘stop and wait’. There are many other variations of this type of crossing all over the world.

What is a Puffin Crossing?

The puffin crossing is very similar to the pelican crossing. You have a standard set of traffic lights on the opposite side of the road but the push button box has both the red and green man. When the button is pushed, the red man will light up indicating pedestrians that it is not safe to cross. When it is safe, the green man will light up. The puffin crossing is also good for the visually impaired as it will beep when it is safe to cross; some vibrate for those not able to hear but can see. The puffin crossing also has motion detectors so if a pedestrian decides not to cross the road when the green man hasn’t lit up, then it will cancel the request from the push button so cars can continue to go.

What is the difference between a pelican crossing and a puffin crossing?

The pelican and puffin crossings have a few differences which are:

• The pelican crossing was the first to be introduced after the zebra crossing and the puffin is just an updated version of the pelican crossing
• The puffin crossing has sensors that detect the presence of pedestrians waiting to cross and as they cross
• Both the puffin and pelican crossing have a push box but only the puffin crossing has the box indicating if it’s safe to cross; the pelican crossing has the red and green man next to the traffic lights
• The puffin crossing has the ability to cancel the request to cross the road due to sensors whereas when the button is pushed in the pelican crossing it will stop cars even if there is no one present to cross the road
• The puffin crossing will beep when it is safe to cross the road whereas the pelican crossing is silent when it’s safe to cross the road

The are the main difference between the pelican and puffin crossing.