Editing Pedestrian crossing (section)

==Enhancements for disabled people==
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2013|small=y}}
Pedestrian controlled crossings are sometimes provided with enhanced features to assist [[disability|disabled people]].

===Tactile paving===
[[File:Tactile paving 2.jpg|thumb|Tactile paving next to a crosswalk]]
[[Tactile paving|Tactile surfacing patterns]] (or tactile pavings) may be laid flush within the adjacent footways (US: [[sidewalk]]s), so that [[visually impaired]] pedestrians can locate the control box and cone device and know when they have reached the other side. In Britain, different colours of tactile paving indicate different types of crossings; yellow (referred to as buff coloured) is used at non-controlled (no signals) crossings, and red is used at controlled (signalised) locations.<ref name="mutcd-4e" />

===Tactile feedback===
Tactile cones near or under the control button may rotate or shake when the pedestrian signal is in the pedestrian "walk" phase. This is for pedestrians with visual impairments. A vibrating button is used in Australia, Germany, some parts of the United States, Greece, Ireland, and Hong Kong to assist hearing-impaired people. Alternatively, [[electrostatic]], touch-sensitive buttons require no force to activate. To confirm that a request has been registered, the buttons usually emit a chirp or other sound. They also offer anti-vandalism benefits due to not including moving parts which are sometimes jammed on traditional push-button units.

The Australian PB/5 crosswalk button has a tactile response panel on the upper face vibrating to indicate when to cross.<ref name="ph">{{cite web |last1=Curtis |first1=Jane |last2=Jacobs |first2=John |title=Oscillations: Push to Walk |url=https://powerhouse.com.au/stories/push-to-walk |website=powerhouse.com.au |access-date=23 March 2025 |language=en-AU}}</ref><ref name="unsw">{{cite web |last1=Park |first1=Miles |title=Sublime design: the PB/5 pedestrian button |url=https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2014/06/sublime-design--the-pb-5-pedestrian-button |website=UNSW Sites |access-date=23 March 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

==={{anchor|Accessible pedestrian signals}}Audible signals===
[[File:PedestrianSignalPushButton.jpg|thumb|left|An accessible pedestrian signal which is used in the US and Canada]]
Crosswalks have adaptations, mainly for people with visual impairments, through the addition of accessible pedestrian signals (APS) that may include speakers at the pushbutton, or under the signal display, for each crossing location.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |url=http://cce.oregonstate.edu/sites/cce.oregonstate.edu/files/acc_signalsreport.pdf |title=Accessible Pedestrian Signals |last1=Bentzen |first1=Billie Louise |last2=Tabor |first2=Lee S. |date=August 1998 |publisher=Accessible Design for the Blind|access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref> These types of signals have been shown to reduce conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Van Houten |first1=Ron |last2=Louis Malenfant |first2=J. |last3=Van Houten |first3=Joy |last4=Retting |first4=Richard |date=1 January 1997 |title=Using Auditory Pedestrian Signals To Reduce Pedestrian and Vehicle Conflicts |journal=Transportation Research Record |volume=1578 |pages=20–22 |doi=10.3141/1578-03 |s2cid=111136233 |issn=0361-1981}}</ref> However, without other indications such as tactile pavings or cones, these APS units may be hard for visually impaired people to locate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barlow |first1=Janet M. |last2=Scott |first2=Alan C. |last3=Bentzen |first3=Billie Louise |date=1 January 2009 |title=Audible Beaconing with Accessible Pedestrian Signals |journal=AER Journal |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=149–158 |issn=1945-5569 |pmc=2901122 |pmid=20622978 }}</ref>

In the United States, the standards in the 2009 MUTCD require APS units to have a pushbutton locator tone, audible and vibrotactile walk indications, a tactile arrow aligned with the direction of travel on the crosswalk, and to respond to ambient sound. The pushbutton locator tone is a beep or tick, repeating at once per second, to allow people who are blind to find the device.<ref name="mutcd-4e" /> If APS units are installed in more than one crossing direction (e.g. if there are APS units at a curb for both the north–south and west–east crossing directions), different sounds or speech messages may be used for each direction.<ref name=":9" /> Under the MUTCD guideline, the walk indication may be a speech message if two or more units on the same curb are separated by less than {{Convert|10|ft|m}}. These speech messages usually follow the pattern "[Street name]. Walk sign is on to cross [Street Name]."<ref name=":12">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/APSTechnicalSpecifications4_20_2010.pdf|title=APS Technical Specifications|website=SFMTA|access-date=22 March 2017}}</ref> Otherwise, the walk indication may be a "percussive tone", which usually consists of repeated, rapid sounds that can be clearly heard from the opposite curb and can oscillate between high and low volumes.<ref name=":12" /> In both cases, when the "don't walk" indication is flashing, the device will beep at every second until the "don't walk" indication becomes steady and the pedestrian countdown indication reaches "0", at which point the device will beep intermittently at lower volume.<ref name=":12" /> When activated, the APS units are mandated to be accompanied by a vibrating arrow on the APS during the walk signal.<ref name="mutcd-4e" />

The devices have been in existence since the mid-20th century, but were not popular until the 2000s because of concerns over noise.<ref name=":9" /> As of the 2009 MUTCD, APS are supposed to be set to be heard only 6 to 12 feet from the device to be easy to detect from a close distance but not so loud as to be intrusive to neighboring properties.<ref name="mutcd-4e" /> Among American cities, San Francisco has one of the greatest numbers of APS-equipped intersections in the United States, with APS installed at 202 intersections {{As of|October 2016|lc=yes}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/2016/APS%20Intersection%20List%2010_31_2016.pdf|title=Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS), October 31, 2016|website=SFMTA|access-date=22 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322204135/https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/2016/APS%20Intersection%20List%2010_31_2016.pdf|archive-date=22 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> New York City has APS at 131 intersections {{As of|November 2015|lc=y}}, with 75 more intersections to be equipped every year after that.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/2015-aps-program-status-report.pdf|title=Accessible Pedestrian Signals Program Status Report|date=November 2015|website=[[Government of New York City|nyc.gov]]|publisher=[[New York City Department of Transportation]]|access-date=20 April 2017}}</ref>
[[File:LA2 dont walk.ogg|thumb|Pedestrian sound signal in Sweden. During the first 9 seconds, the slow don't walk signal is heard. Then the button is pressed, sounding a beep. Soon after this, the faster walk signal is heard.]]
APS in other countries may consist of a short recorded message, as in Scotland, [[Hong Kong]], Singapore and some parts of Canada (moderate to large urban centres). In Japan, various electronic melodies are played, often of traditional melancholic [[folk song]]s such as "[[Tōryanse]]" or "[[Sakura Sakura|Sakura]]". In Croatia, Denmark Israel, Sweden, and Hong Kong, beeps (or clicks) with long intervals in-between signifying "don't walk" mode and beeps with very short intervals signifying "walk" mode; however, the standards differ by the implementing country (for example, the intervals between clicks in Hong Kong, for both "walk" mode and "don't walk" mode, are shorter than the corresponding intervals in Sweden).

=== Relief symbols ===
[[File:OsloCrossing.jpg|thumb|upright|Tactile representation of a street crossing in Oslo showing (starting at the bottom) that the crossing consists of a curb, a bicycle lane, two lanes of traffic, a pedestrian island, two tram tracks, another island, then three more traffic lanes.]]
On some pushbuttons especially in Austria and Germany there is a symbolic relief showing the crossing situation for the visually impaired, so they can get an overview of the crossing.

The relief is read from the bottom up. It consists of different modules, which are put together according to the crosswalk. Each pedestrian crossing begins with the start symbol, consisting of an arrow and a broad line representing the curb. Subsequently, different modules for traffic lanes and islands follow. The relief is completed with a broad line.

Modules for traffic lanes consist of a dash in the middle and a symbol for the kind of lane right or left of the dash, depending on the direction from which the traffic crosses the crossing. If a crossing is possible from both directions, a symbol is located on both sides. If the pedestrian crossing is a zebra crossing, the middle line is dashed. A traffic light secured crossing has a solid line.

A cycle path is represented by two points next to each other, a vehicle lane by a rectangle and tram rails by two lines lying one above the other.

Islands are represented as a rectangle, which has semicircles on the right and left side. If there is a pushbutton for pedestrians on the island, there is a dot in the middle of the rectangle. If the pedestrian walkway divides on an island, the rectangle may be open on the right or left side.<ref>{{cite web|title=Productinformation Signal requesting device (EK 533)|url=https://langmatz.de/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/11/langmatz-signal-requesting-device-crossguide-ek533.pdfhttps://langmatz.de/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/11/langmatz-signal-requesting-device-crossguide-ek533.pdf|publisher=Langmatz GmbH|access-date=3 March 2018}}{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Symbol
!securing
!type
!direction
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Ende.svg|100px|alternativtext=End of crossing]]
|
|End
|
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Zebrastreifen-Radweg-Zweirichtung.svg|100px|alternativtext=Bidirectional cycle path in crosswalk]]
|zebra crossing
|cycle path
|bidirectional 
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Zebrastreifen-Radweg-rechts.svg|100px|alternativtext=Cycle path from the right in a zebra crossing]]
|zebra crossing
|cycle path
|right
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Zebrastreifen-KFZ-rechts.svg|100px|alternativtext=vehicle lane from the right in a zebra crossing]]
|zebra crossing
|vehicle lane
|right
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Zebrastreifen-Schienen-rechts.svg|100px|alternativtext=Tram tracksfrom the right in a zebra crossing]]
|zebra crossing
|tram tracks
|right
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Insel-Anforderung-links offen.svg|100px|alternativtext=Left open island with pushbutton]]
|
|island with pushbutton
|open to the left
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Insel-Anforderung.svg|100px|alternativtext=island with pushbutton]]
|
|island with pushbutton
|
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Insel.svg|100px|alternativtext=island]]
|
|island
|
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Ampel-Schienen-links.svg|100px|alternativtext=tram tracks from the left of a traffic light]]
|traffic light
|tram tracks
|left
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Ampel-KFZ-Links.svg|100px|alternativtext=vehicle lane from the left of a traffic light]]
|traffic light
|vehicle lane
|left
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Ampel-Radweg-links.svg|100px|alternativtext=cycle path from the left of a traffic light]]
|traffic light
|cycle path
|left
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Ampel-Radweg-Zweirichtung.svg|100px|alternativtext=Two-way cycle path of a traffic light]]
|traffic lights
|cycle path
|bidirectional
|-
|[[file:Übergang-Start.svg|100px|alternativtext=start]]
|
|Start
|
|}

The Australian PB/5 crosswalk button has an embossed arrow to indicate the direction of the crossing (intended to function in conjunction with tactile paving.<ref name="ph"/><ref name="unsw"/>

==={{anchor|Keywalk}}Key-based system===
In [[Perth]], [[Western Australia]], an extended phase system called "Keywalk" was developed by the Main Roads Department of Western Australia in response to concerns from disability advocates about the widening of the Albany Highway in that city in the mid-1990s. The department felt that extending the walk phase permanently on cross streets would cause too much disruption to traffic flow on the highway and so the Keywalk system was developed to allow for those who needed an extended green light phase to cross the road safely. A small electronic key adjusted the green/walk and flashing red/complete crossing phases to allow more time for the key holder to complete the crossing of the highway safely. The system was first installed at the junction of Albany Highway and Cecil Avenue.<ref>Keywalk for the disabled is an Australian first (March 1995). Western Roads: official journal of Main Roads, Western Australia, 18(4), p.10. Perth: Main Roads Department.</ref> It is unclear what became of this system.