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Bristol Post
Bristol Post
National
Jasper King

Bristol gets its first countdown pedestrian crossing - but you'll have to be patient

Cities up and down the UK have recently been graced with familiar countdown timers at traffic light crossings.

They show people how many seconds there are left until the red man appears.

And now Bristol has got its first such countdown clock near Temple Meads station.

Bristol Temple Quarter announced the exciting news to their followers on Twitter.

The tweet reads, "Our new crossing at #TempleGate is open and the countdown timer switched on. This is the first of its kind in Bristol & helps pedestrians & cyclists judge if there's time to start crossing."

But some people are rather disgruntled about the introduction of the new traffic light timer that has come into place.

Alex tweets, "Why are we waiting for cars? I cycle south to north through temple quarter everyday and I can't see how my journey has been made any better."

But some people have praised the new investment in the Temple Meads area.

Michael tweets, "Loving it. Seen these sorts of things abroad and in London and got a lot of time for them.

In Croatia they have them for drivers too!"

So our reporter Jasper King decided to try out the new timed pedestrian crossing for himself.

The new countdown crossing at Temple Gate (David Betts Photography)

The findings

In total, the time taken from pressing the button until the timer eventually started was one minute and 17 seconds.

Temple Gate is known for having heavy traffic and many pedestrians wanting to cross the road.

But still, this was quite a long time to wait just to cross a road, especially during the winter.

A 1min 17secs wait for some people may be okay, but for others that are in a rush and who need to get to places, this may just be a wait too long.

Jasper King tries out the countdown crossing (David Betts Photography)

The countdown timer does not start immediately but comes on with 11 seconds to go.

This replaces the green man and green bicycle symbols until the red man appears again.

A reliable aspect of the timer is that once the countdown clock reaches zero and the red man appears, cars immediately start again.

This is great for pedestrians who are a stickler for road rules, but for people risking crossing the road while the man is red the advice is to be careful.

Another great aspect of the timed crossing is that it uses national standards to calculate crossing times according to Bristol Temple Quater.

This gives just the right amount of time for people with disabilities to cross the road safely.

Overall it's great that Bristol has its first ever own timed pedestrian crossing. But during temperatures like this, it would be even better if we could cross Temple Gate just a little quicker.

For the latest news in and around Bristol, visit and bookmark Bristol Live's homepage.

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