00A STREET-CORNER GUIDE

Press once.
It is listening.

A hand pressing the round button on a plain grey push-button box fixed to a crossing pole, with a softly blurred street behind — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

The box on the crossing pole does more than it looks.

At UK light-controlled crossings the button calls the green figure. Newer puffin crossings also watch the kerb and the road, and many boxes hide a small cone underneath that spins for people who cannot see or hear the signal.

PRESSthen watchUpdated 16 October 2026

What am I seeing?

01Principles

Press the button
Wait for steady green
Check the traffic
The Highway Code, in three steps

02THE SHORT ANSWER

The button calls
the green figure.

Pelican, puffin and toucan crossings
all start with the same press.

THE BUTTON

A call, and a confirmation

The Highway Code says to push the control button to activate the signals. A puffin's demand unit has a push button and a call confirmation indicator that shows your press has registered.

What am I seeing?

THE CONE

A signal you can feel

Many boxes have a small ridged cone on the underside. It rotates when the green figure shows, so people who are blind or deafblind know it is time to start crossing.

About the cone

PUFFINS

A crossing that watches

Puffin crossings check that someone is still waiting at the kerb and can hold traffic longer while slower walkers are still on the road.

See the numbers

03A QUICK SIGNAL CHECK

What is the crossing
telling you?

Pick what you can see or feel at the crossing. The bar shows how clearly it means you may start to cross.

Always check the traffic has stopped before you step out, whatever the signal shows.

Signal check

Choose a signalRed standing figureCall indicator lit after pressingFlashing green figure (pelican)Steady green figureCone under the box spinning

Red standing figureDo not start

The red figure means do not start to cross. Press the button if you have not already and wait.

Call indicator lit after pressingRequest made

Your press has been registered. At a puffin crossing, the call can be cancelled if the kerbside detector finds nobody waiting.

Flashing green figure (pelican)Do not start

At a pelican crossing, do not start to cross when the green figure flashes. If you are already crossing, you should have time to finish.

Steady green figureYou may start

Check the traffic has stopped, then cross with care. Some crossings also bleep or speak while the steady green shows.

Cone under the box spinningGreen is showing

The cone rotates when the green figure appears and it is safe to start to cross. Sight Scotland suggests waiting for the next cycle if it is already spinning when you reach it.

Sources: The Highway Code, rules 21 to 28; DfT Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/02; nidirect; Sight Scotland.

04TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING

Built for slow walkers
and short reaches.

From the Department for Transport's 2002 leaflet
on installing puffin crossings.

0.5 m/s

Slowest walking speed they respond to

Puffin on-crossing detectors respond to pedestrians on the crossing walking at half a metre per second and upwards, and can extend the all-red clearance period while people are still crossing.

ON-CROSSING DETECTORS · DfT

1.0–1.1 m

Centre of the push button above the pavement

The leaflet says the centre of the push button should be 1.0 to 1.1 metres above the footway, with the near-side signal mounted just above it so children and wheelchair users can see it easily.

BUTTON HEIGHT · DfT

Source: Department for Transport, Traffic Advisory Leaflet 1/02, The Installation of Puffin Pedestrian Crossings (January 2002).

05FOUR THINGS TO KNOW

Next time
you press.

These come straight from the Highway Code and the Department for Transport's crossing guidance.

Stay in the waiting area
At a puffin crossing, walking away after pressing can cancel your call, because the kerbside detector checks someone is still there.
Look at the near-side box
Puffin signals sit above the control box on your side of the road, and there is no flashing green figure.
Press again at a staggered island
If the two halves are not in line, they are two separate crossings: press the button again on the island.
Feel under the box
If you cannot see or hear the signal, check the underside of the box for a cone that spins when the green figure shows.

A quiet light-controlled pedestrian crossing with red tactile paving, a signal pole and lines of studs across the road — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

06THE SPINNING CONE

A signal for
people who cannot see it.

Fingertips resting on a small ridged cone underneath a crossing push-button box — AI-generated image, not a photograph of a real person or place.

Bleeping signals help blind people, but are of little help to someone who also has hearing loss, and nidirect says that for safety they are only fitted at crossings away from all others or where all traffic stops at once. A tactile cone on the underside of the box rotates when the green figure appears.

Sight Scotland says that since 2002 new controlled crossings have been required to have the tactile cone, whether or not they also bleep. Its advice: if the cone is already spinning when you find it, wait and press again.

07Questions

Questions people ask

What is the difference between pelican and puffin crossings?

At a pelican crossing the figures are across the road and there is a flashing green figure phase. At a puffin crossing the figures are above the control box on your side of the road and there is no flashing green phase.

Why does the crossing sometimes ignore my press?

At a puffin crossing, the controller checks a kerbside detector after you press. If nobody is detected in the waiting area for longer than a set time, the call is cancelled and the green figure will not appear.

Why do some crossings not bleep?

For the safety of pedestrians, nidirect says audible signals are only provided at crossings away from all others, or at junctions where traffic in all directions is stopped at the same time.

Can cyclists use the button?

Yes, at toucan crossings. They are push-button operated, pedestrians and cyclists see the green signal together, and cyclists are allowed to ride across.

What does flashing amber mean for drivers?

At a pelican crossing, drivers must give way to anyone still on the crossing while the amber light flashes. Puffin and toucan crossings have no flashing amber phase.

08Sources

Press once.
It is listening.