This report was commissioned by Transport for London (TfL) and examines pedestrian and driver behaviour in terms of efficiency, user acceptance and conflicts between drivers and pedestrians at five representative Puffin sites, compared with five paired Pelican sites. TRL understands that the Department for Transport intention is that Puffin crossings should be the standard pedestrian light controlled crossing (and there are 101 mid-block Puffin crossings in London today). However, there is still uncertainty about the road safety implications of Puffins in comparison to Pelican crossings. This report details the gathering of information on the behaviour of vehicle drivers and pedestrians at Pelican and Puffin crossing sites. This involved analysis which studies the number and nature of 'near misses' at a site, assuming that the number and type of conflicts that occur between road users at different times of day will be an indicator of safety at the crossings. (Author/publisher)
Abstract