CONTRARY to the view of M Powell (Letters, August 13), and leaving aside his/her rant about cyclists, I do actually know how pelican and puffin crossings crossings work. I have raised the timings on several occasions with local highway authorities and an engineer has confirmed my assumptions.

The timings are set to minimise the disruption of flow to motorised traffic. There is a minimum timing to allow the lights to change sequence and bring the traffic to a safe halt. This is about six to seven seconds. If there is no traffic coming then a green light should be given to pedestrians after this time.

If there is traffic coming, the sequence will not be started until there is a break in the traffic flow; if no break occurs the vehicles will be brought to a halt after about typically half a minute and the pedestrians will then be given the green light to cross.

I did once come across a crossing on Barnwood Road in Gloucester where it usually changed after 6-7 seconds irrespective of the traffic flow. This was very useful for people wanting to catch a bus on the other side of the road and discouraged them from taking risks to catch one approaching. When the sequence reverted to normal, I raised it with the council and was told the original sequence was a mistake!

The pelican crossing by the shops in Kingshill Road (Dursley) seems to have been set by a sadist; pedestrians have to wait half a minute even if there is no traffic in sight.

So, pedestrians do have lower priority.

Clive Mowforth,

Jubilee Road,

Kingshill,

Dursley,