Crossing a Street in the UK

Our kids love crossing a street in the UK. They fight over whose turn it is to press the button. This post shows different methods to cross the street. The kids explain in their own words what it is like to cross a street in Cambridge. We’ve added some extra words in parenthesis to help you out along the way, but we’ve tried to minimize wordsmithing their explanation 😉 I hope it’s obvious, but anyone looking to understand the formal pedestrian rules for crossing the street should use this link.

Remember, we’re not claiming to be UK lifestyle experts! We’re sharing our experience with others who have a curiosity to learn how other communities do things. One community’s way isn’t better, right or wrong. There may also be other ways to cross the street in other parts of the UK that we haven’t discovered. Just like there are different methods to cross the street back home in the States. The goal of these posts is to share what the kids find exciting as we go through our adventures!

The Pelican Crossing

1. You press the white circle button.
2. There’s a W and then an A and then an I and then that T that turns on. It means, “NO. Don’t cross the street yet.”
3. That red person in the black circle means you can’t walk (see middle picture).
4. And that green sign with the person and the bicycle means you can walk or bike (see right picture).

The Puffin Crossing

This one is very similar to the pelican crossing with a few differences:

• The wait sign does not exist.
• You don’t look across the street. You look at the sign on your side of the street where you pushed the button.
• Sometimes it will have both a walker and cyclist.
• It also can have a sound that goes “dee dee dee dee dee dee” while you cross the street. That means to go too.

*Parental side note: the pelican crossings have technology that makes sure that pedestrians have crossed the street before the light will change back to green for cars!

The Zebra Crossing

The zebra crossing has blinking yellow balls on top of the black and white striped poles. You make sure no cars or bicycles are coming and you can cross. We’ve seen these in Thomas the Tank Engine books and we bet you have too!

The Kids’ Favorite Method for Crossing a Street in the UK

The kids like the pelican crossing because the white WAIT sign that comes up just adds a different dimension to the experience, haha! Overall though, the kids like all these crossing signals better than the ones we are used to back in the States because the colors are easier to understand.