Some traffic signals in Edinburgh have been changed to give pedestrians more time to cross.
Timings of all individual pedestrian crossings have been checked and reviewed by council staff. Wherever possible, waiting times for pedestrians have been reduced to 20 seconds when the call button has been pressed.
Around 93% of the 378 standalone pedestrian crossings in the city now have a 20 second maximum wait time.
Two signalised junctions have also been upgraded in the past six months.
The works, at Dalkeith Road and East Preston Street and at Gilmore Place and Viewforth Terrace, are intended to reduce pedestrian waiting times.
Council officers have also worked on plans to give more time to cross the road at school travel times and they have improved “signal timings”.
Officers are working to reduce crossing waiting times to 20 seconds wherever possible. In addition, there is a programme to refurbish traffic signals in the city underway.
The city will also explore introducing puffin and toucan crossings instead of pelican crossings where possible.
Pelican crossings have the pedestrian crossing sign on a pole opposite the button pressed to request the lights go red.
Meanwhile, puffin crossings have the pedestrian crossing sign above the crossing button, and have intelligent systems to make the crossing safer and more efficient.
They can detect if pedestrians are crossing slowly, holding the red signal for longer, and can also abandon a crossing request if it notices a pedestrian has walked off from the crossing.
And toucan crossings accommodate both bicycles and pedestrians.
Councillors will consider a report on pedestrian crossings at the Transport and Environment Committee meeting on 2 April.
By Joseph Sullivan Local Democracy Reporter
