Pedestrian guide to cross the road in London?

This is the official guidance, from the UK Highway Code: http://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/rules-for-pedestrians—crossing-the-road-7-to-17.html and the following two pages.

Specifically, Rule 8: At a junction. When crossing the road, look out for traffic turning into the road, especially from behind you. If you have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road, you have priority and they should give way. They might hoot at you, but they won’t deliberately run you over.

So if traffic waiting to turn is stopped at a red light when you start to cross, you have priority over them if the lights change while you are still crossing.

Most busy junctions with traffic lights (with or without pedestrian lights) will have central “islands” so you can cross each half of the road separately. In that case, each half-crossing is considered separately – when you reach the middle, stop and check the traffic situation (and/or the lights) again.

Note, only the Highway Code rules explicitly stating “must” or “must not” are legal requirements, but all of the rules are considered relevant when determining legal liability, in any situation.

In towns with complicated road junctions, one-way streets, etc, you will often find a sign painted on the road surface saying “pedestrians look left” as a warning that traffic is coming from the opposite direction from normal. (The UK drives on the left, so traffic usually approached you from the right).

Actually, vehicles with 4 or more wheels are not really the problem. The troublemakers are usually cyclists who have no insurance to lose if they have an accident, no registration marks that can be picked up on CCTV, and who consider that laws only apply to other people…

You cross when there is no traffic. In your example this would mean when the lights are red and there are no cars turning into the road; there is a brief period as the lights change when no cars at all are allowed, and pedestrians often take advantage of this.

You can, of course, cross at any time if there is no traffic at all; you may gather disapproving looks from those who are training children (or dogs) only to cross when the lights are in their favour.

And if you come from one of those countries where they drive on the right, you have to remember which way to look before you step out. Fortunately on many busy or confusing crossings (like this one) the authorities have painted ‘LOOK RIGHT’ just in front of the kerb.

There are generally six types of pedestrian crossings in the UK:

• Pelican crossing (Pedestrian light c[a]ntrolled crossing) – these are normal crossings with traffic lights, usually at road junctions. At these crossings, you should cross when your light turns green.

• Zebra crossing – these are the usual parallel white lines painted on the road, as in many countries. Usually you’ll also find blinking amber bulb lights on both sides. At these crossings, drivers must stop and let pedestrian cross, so you can just cross the road (taking due care, of course).

• Puffin crossing (Pedestrian user-friendly intelligent crossings). These are also light controlled, but normally also have video cameras (on older model) or infra-red sensors (on newer model) that spot approaching pedestrian ready to cross and change the traffic light red for vehicles and green for pedestrians. When the traffic light changes for vehicles to amber, they should let the pedestrian already on the crossing pass, but can go otherwise. For pedestrian, when the green light starts blinking, you should not start to cross the road and wait for the next green instead.

• Toucan crossings (from Two can cross – pedestrians and bicyclists). These are, again, light controlled, but normally display red to pedestrians and green to vehicles. To cross, the pedestrian would press a button on the control panel near a crossing and wait for the light to change. Many newer crossings also have a time display showing how many seconds are remaining before the light changes to red again.

• School crossings – these are found just outside schools and are usually operational during school hours. Most often you will find a lollipop lady (or gentleman) – a live person with the STOP sign on a long stick – who would periodically step into the road and show the STOP sign to vehicles, who must stop. She/he would then allow pedestrian (usually, lots of children going to or from school) to cross.

• Outside race courses and in some rural areas (especially in Scotland) where there may be many horses, you can also find a Pegasus crossing. These are similar to Toucan and Puffin crossings, but have special provisions for horse-back riders (e.g. a second control button higher up the pole and/or a second sensor pointing at higher up).

If you happen to be on a street where there are no pedestrian crossings, then you are free to cross taking the normal precautions (i.e. make sure there are no approaching traffic). Be mindful of occasional signs “No crossings” directed at pedestrian. While I haven’t myself heard of anyone being fined for J-walking in London, I’m fairly certain that there’s a section in the Road Traffic Act that makes it an offence.

So, to summarise, try to use a pedestrian crossing if you can find one – or use your common sense and judgement.