Humped Pelican Crossing -- Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich, London, UK
N 51° 28.870 W 000° 00.371
30U E 707873 N 5707585
Watch for humped pelicans, spawning questions from young children
Waymark Code: WMT3MB
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 09/19/2016
Views: 3
We don't really care what consenting adult pelicans do, but apparently the British do, and this is where they have to cross the road.
Presumably, unhumped pelicans can cross at other places besides at this Crosswalk of Shame and Public Opprobrium.
All kidding aside, a humped pelican crossing is a real thing, although the signs are so rare we never saw another one in the 2 weeks we were in Britain:
From Everything2.com: (
visit link)
"A variation of the Pelican crossing, a British road system feature for mediating pedestrian and vehicle interaction. The pelican crossing has one or more speed humps (cf. Amer. speed bump) in the upstream direction of traffic flow, to force/encourage the drivers to slow down. There are usually road signs alerting drivers that they are approaching such a feature, and there may be signs notifying waiting pedestrians of the same. Presumably the signs for pedestrians are to let them know that vehicles may appear to be coming too quickly for comfort, but will most likely slow down on encountering the humps.
Also offers the advantage for the pedestrian (especially with pushchairs, wheelchairs etc.) of not needing to step up and down a kerb (or curb). thanks to Albert Herring
Humped zebra crossings are quite similar."