A refuge island, also known as a pedestrian refuge or pedestrian island, is a small section of pavement or

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

, surrounded by

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

or other road materials, where

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s can stop before finishing crossing a

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

. It is typically used when a street is very wide, as the

pedestrian crossing A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American and Canadian English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or Avenue (landscape), avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna Convention on Road Sign ...

can be too long for some individuals to cross in one

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – also known as robots in South Africa, Zambia, and Namibia – are signaling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order t ...

cycle. They may also be seen on roads with higher speed limits. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, refuge islands are commonly illuminated by a white 300 mm beacon mounted on a 5 m grey pole with white reflective bands. Refuge islands may also be used when no light exists and pedestrians need safe harbour after managing one direction of traffic and before carrying on to the next. This significantly improves amenity for pedestrians trying to cross busy streets, as they are much more likely to find two small gaps in traffic rather than one situation in which gaps for both directions coincide. Since this reduces pedestrians' average waiting time, it also improves safety, with impatient pedestrians less likely to use gaps that turn out to be too short for safe crossing.''Pedestrian planning and design guide'' - Land Transport New Zealand, 2007, Page 6-16

References

{{road-stub Traffic calming Road infrastructure Pedestrian crossing components

See also

References