Lack of awareness among Delhiites about traffic police's pedestrian-friendly initiative

Pelican signals fail to take flight

Lack of awareness among Delhiites about traffic police's pedestrian-friendly initiative

Did you ever feel victimised as a pedestrian at a busy traffic intersection? Well your troubles could have

vanished at the press of a button, had the Delhi traffic police publicised one of its recent schemes.

"I don't know what this Pelican signal is and how does it work," said Rajnish Singh, a puzzled pedestrian at India Gate, where the signal is installed. "I have never heard about this. Really, does suchu00a0u00a0 a thing function?" quipped another.u00a0

A Pelican crossing is a definitive light-controlled crossing that features a standard set of traffic lights with a push button and two coloured lamps for pedestrians using the crossing. So if the cars and two-wheelers are taking too much time at the signal, the pedestrians can press the button at the signal to cross the lane.

"If such a facility exists, I think it'll lead to more accidents. Because suddenly in the middle of traffic if a pedestrian goes and halts the traffic, half of the crowd will be on the other end and half will be in the process of crossing the road. It will only add to confusion," said Arun, who uses his car for commuting in the city.

For the people

The term Pelican crossing is used only in the United Kingdom but similar traffic control devices are in use throughout the world. Pelican type crossings sometimes have further non-visual indication that it is safe to cross, such as a beep, vibrating button or tactile rotating cone in order to assist blind or partially sighted pedestrians.

But the traffic officials feel that once people will know the usage of the signal, there will be no question of chaos or accidents.

"The Delhi police should publicise this step and should spread awareness about it. They should deploy volunteers at signals where Pelicans are installed.

With the help of volunteers, people can remove their doubts and can inform them about its functions and traffic rules that need to be followed strictly at these points," said Nalin Sinha, head ofu00a0 Institute of Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).

According to a senior traffic police officer, the Pelican signals have been installed at more than 46 crossings, including Shanti Path and India Gate.

On a crossroad?

The Pelican crossing was the first introduced in 1969 in UK, after the earlier failed experiment of the Panda crossing. Previously, only Zebra crossings had been used, which have warning signals (Belisha beacons), but no control signals. The pedestrian lights are situated on the far side of the road to the pedestrian. A Puffin crossing has the lights on the same side as the pedestrian; a Toucan crossing is a crossing for pedestrians and bicycles; a Pegasus crossing allows horse-riders to cross as well.

"The signals are installed at places where there is a lot of congestion due to vehicle movement and on other roads where there are no traffic lights.

When a pedestrian presses the button to cross the road, the traffic lights turn red after completing the full circle in less time, thereby facilitating the pedestrian movement," added the officer.

The Pelican signals were installed after Delhi traffic police started a drive to punish jaywalkers in Delhi last year.

"It's a very important step taken by Delhi traffic police, as this system had considerably reduced the accident toll of pedestrians in countries like UK, US and Singapore, among others," added Sinha.

1,000 Number of pedestrians who died in road accidents in 2009
731 Number of traffic lights in Delhi

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