Crossings in the United Kingdom
- Main article: Crossings#Street crossings
Pedestrian crossings in the United Kingdom are officially classified by a variety of cute and cuddly zoo animals. This terminology remains valid in the UK (and is defined in legislation) whereas it has mostly been phased out elsewhere.
Worldwide on OSM there has been a move toward describing the features of a crossing rather than using a crossing_ref. Whilst the UK may be continuing the use of crossing_ref (allowing double-tagging with crossing features) Taginfo stats show a 400k worldwide drop in 2024 alone.
A legally-enforceable Zebra crossing (with zebra stripes, dots, belisha beacons, and a Traffic Road Order) and a marked pedestrian crossing in a supermarket car park (often simply zebra stripes) are not the same thing in respect to whether cars must legally stop for pedestrians or not. The markings in the car park are a guide only.
| Road markings | Pedestrian signals | Cyclist signals | Equestrian signals | crossing=* | crossing:markings=* | crossing:signals=* | crossing_ref=* | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Yes | No | traffic_signals | dots | yes | toucan | bicycle=designated |
| Yes | Yes | No | Yes | traffic_signals | dots | yes | pegasus | horse=designated |
| Yes | Yes | No | No | traffic_signals | dots | yes | puffin | |
| Yes | Yes | No | No | traffic_signals | dots | yes | pelican[1] | |
| Yes | No | No | No | marked | zebra;dots or zebra[2] | (no) | zebra[3] | |
| No | Yes | No | No | unmarked | (no) | yes | ||
| No | No | No | No | unmarked | (no) | (no) |
Common tagging mistakes
External links
Schedule 14 TSRGD 2016 - Signs for traffic control by light signals, signs for crossings, and signs for lane control - current legislation for Great Britain, with diagrams
Traffic Signs Manual - Chapter 6: Traffic Control (PDF) - 2019 guidance from the Department for Transport
Guidance on the Use of Tactile Paving Surfaces (PDF) - 2021 guidance from the Department for Transport
Notes
- ↑ In 2016, the UK began phasing out pelican crossings in favour of puffin crossings, which are tagged crossing_ref=puffin.
- ↑ This tag by itself only refers to the striped marking pattern, regardless of the crossing classification. Dots are usually present immediately outside the zebra markings, but not required.
- ↑ Originally, the value zebra entailed a specific pattern that in the UK is only found at unsignalled crossings, never at signalized crossings. However, in colloquial usage elsewhere, it has come to mean any kind of road marking.