Effects of converting a zebra to a pelican crossing

The conversion of a zebra crossing in Bracknell to a pelican provided an opportunity to study the effects of the two types of crossing on pedestrian and vehicle journey times and on road user behaviour. Time lapse cine films were taken on both crossings. The analysis has shown that converting the crossing reduced the dependence of vehicle delays on pedestrian flow at the expense of increasing pedestrian journey times. However, pedestrians who use the pelican crossing correctly were about ten times less likely to encounter a vehicle on the crossing than pedestrians on the zebra crossing. In Bracknell where the vehicle flows were low for a pelican crossing this benefit was cancelled by the proportion of pedestrians crossing during the green vehicle phase, who were then more exposed to traffic than those on the zebra crossing. (A)