Pedestrian crossovers, countdown signals and accessible signals help make the City’s roads safer for pedestrians.
Pedestrian signals indicate when a pedestrian should cross the street at an intersection or crossover.
The white walking symbol indicates that it is safe for an individual to begin crossing the road. You may enter the intersection whenever the walk signal is showing.
The pedestrian don’t walk indicator, which is sometimes combined with a countdown timer, means that a pedestrian must not begin crossing the road. If you have entered the intersection before the flashing started, you will have enough time to safely complete your crossing before the “don’t walk” phase.
Countdown signals show a numerical countdown so you can see how much time you have left to safely cross the street. The City installs these at locations with a high volume of pedestrians.
As part of our commitment to Vision Zero, in 2021 staff will be updating the flashing/countdown phase approximately 800 intersections to give you more time to safely cross the street before the don’t walk phase ends.
When the “don’t walk” indicator is illuminated pedestrians should not enter the intersection to cross the street. The length of the “don’t walk” phase is a custom calculation for each signal.
Push the button to indicate to the signal that you are waiting to cross the road. The button only needs to be pushed once to trigger the walk phase.
Accessible or audible pedestrian signals help individuals who are blind or visually impaired to cross the road safely. In North America, these signals indicate north south crossings with a cuckoo sound, and east west crossings with a peeping (or Canadian Melody) sound.
Here are a few simple actions that everyone can do to stay safe and help prevent collisions.
A pedestrian crossover is a type of crossing where drivers must come to a full stop to allow pedestrians to cross roads safely. Crossovers are different from crosswalks, which are usually located at intersections with stop signs or traffic signals.
Pedestrian crossovers are located on streets between intersections, at roundabouts, or at right-hand turn lanes with specific signs and pavement markings.
If you’re a pedestrian or a cyclist crossing the road:
If you’re a driver or cyclist approaching a crossover:
Drivers must come to a full stop at crossovers to allow pedestrians to cross safely. If you do not stop completely for pedestrians at a crossover, you can be fined up to $1000 and issued four demerit points on your driver’s licence. For more information, contact the Ministry of Transportation.
If you have any questions about pedestrian crossovers or signals or a pedestrian signal on a City road is not working properly, please call 311 (905-615-4311 outside City limits).
If you have a question or concern about a pedestrian signals on a regional road, please contact the Region of Peel.
*Images courtesy of the Ministry of Transportation and the Region of Peel