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After a pedestrian has crossed there is a delay before the light goes red/amber then green again. The idea is supposed to be that the pedestrian(s) are allowed sufficient time to clear the crossing safely, and this is monitored by sensors. Fine so far.

However some local Puffins don't appear to work that way. There is an - apparently - fixed delay of over 10 seconds after the green man has stopped showing before traffic is allowed to proceed. A significant proportion of drivers just pull away through the red light in frustration after a few seconds. However today I saw something more worrying.

About ten seconds after the green man had stopped, but whilst the crossing was still showing red to traffic, a couple arrived, pressed the button, looked at the light (shown to traffic), saw that it was red, and started to cross. Just as they stepped off the pavement it went red/amber, and it was showing green by the time they had got half way across the road. Obviously they had assumed - incorrectly - that the light had just turned red because they had pressed the button - and the beeps accompanying the previous "red man" would not have been audible at the time, as they would then have been some distance from the crossing.

A classic example of an attempt to protect pedestrians having precisely the opposite effect.

Brian

well, no actually as they're still only supposed to cross on the green man. It's more a case of suicidal pedestrians thinking they can run across any intersection when a light's red, normally completely oblivious to what traffic from other directions is doing.

I tend to think that Puffin crossings are counter-intuitive, as pedestrians expect to see a green or red light on the other side of the road where they are heading (as with a Pelican crossing) rather than on their own side of the road.

Things may improve as they become more widespread, however a repeater signal for peds on the other side would not go amiss.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Pelican crossings work, so why change things. There is a toucan crossing near me with a very long red-to-traffic blank-to-pedestrian phase. That does the job of snarling up roads in the vicinity every time a pedestrian or cyclist wants to cross.

You should read this thread if you hate puffins (and have a lot of time on your hands)

The trouble with most ped crossings is the time delay between pressing the button and anything happening.

It certainly makes me look before I press the button and dash across if there are no vehicles. Why is there a 20 sec delay?

What is different between the cars that are about to go over the crossing when you get there and the ones that are there 20 secs later?

Do the designers think I have to get my breath back before venturing across the road?

Answers to that are hidden within the thread I link to above (though I've yet to be convinced...)

It's an attempt by zen 5th columnists in the public sector to teach you patience, I suspect.

That thread is 41 pages long! Interestingly, I think I might have just finished it by the time the lights on my local Puffin Crossing have changed to red....