AQW 44322/11-15


Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim


Tabled Date: 27/03/2015
Answered On Date: 14/04/2015
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for Regional Development for his assessment of the potential gains in road safety from the replacement of pelican crossings with newer designs, such as puffin or countdown crossings.


Answer:
Both Pelican and Puffin crossings are fully approved for use on the public road network in the UK. However, for all new controlled crossing installations, my Department’s first consideration will be to install a Puffin crossing. Due to the cost involved, my Department does not have a retrofit programme to change all existing Pelicans to Puffins, but as existing Pelican equipment becomes due for upgrading, then again Puffins will be the initial consideration.
Research undertaken by Transport for London has indicated that there are fewer pedestrian casualties at sites equipped with Puffin crossings compared to those with Pelican crossings.
Puffin crossings offer several improvements to the Pelican crossing system. Unlike Pelican crossings there is no flashing amber light for drivers, which helps to reduce the potential for aggressive drivers intimidating pedestrians on the crossing. Similarly, there is no flashing ‘Green Man’ signal which can lead to confusion with pedestrians as to whether they can safely cross the road in time. The Red/ Green Man signals are mounted on the poles beside pedestrians wishing to cross, providing clear indication as to when it is safe to leave the footway and a better view of approaching traffic than afforded by a crossing signal on the other side of the road.
Detectors on a Puffin crossing sense pedestrians crossing the road and keep the traffic lights red for drivers until pedestrians get to the other side of the road. If pedestrians cross quickly the lights will change back to green for traffic sooner than a Pelican crossing, but a Puffin crossing will also allow extra time for slower pedestrians such as wheelchair users or those with young children.
The Northern Ireland Road Safety Strategy to 2020 contains an action measure to consider the introduction of countdown timer signals at pedestrian crossings. These systems are popular in many European countries at sites where there is high pedestrian flow and where many crossing movements frequently occur outside the safe operational crossing time. My Department is aware of the work ongoing in London with this facility and we will continue to monitor and assess their effectiveness before determining any potential future usage in Northern Ireland.