Pedestrian crossings in Australia, type by type
Australia’s crossings come from the Australian Road Rules, one national set that each state and territory turns into its own law. The pedestrian crossing rules are the same in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and everywhere else. The names and the speed limits are not, so a few of the terms below are local.
Traffic drives on the left, and that decides everything else. The nearest lane comes at you from the right, so you look right, then left, then right again.
The short version
| Crossing | How you spot it | What a driver must do |
|---|---|---|
| Pedestrian (zebra) | White parallel stripes, crossing signs, sometimes flashing yellow lights | Give way to anyone on the crossing |
| Wombat | The same stripes, on a raised hump — usually 40 km/h | Give way, and arrive slowly enough to stop |
| Children’s | Red-and-white posts, and only live when the CHILDREN CROSSING flags are out | Stop — and stay stopped until it’s clear |
| Marked foot crossing | Two parallel broken white lines at the lights | Obey the signals |
Pedestrian crossings
White parallel stripes across the road with crossing signs at each end, and sometimes two yellow lights flashing one after the other. Most people call them zebra crossings.
A driver must give way to anyone walking or riding a bike on the crossing, and must come up to it slowly enough to stop. Give way is not the same as stop: the driver only has to give way once you’re on the crossing. So the habit that keeps you safe is still to wait until the traffic has actually stopped, and to keep looking as you go — in case a second driver hasn’t seen why the first one stopped.
Wombat crossings
A wombat crossing is a pedestrian crossing built on a raised bit of road — a flat-topped hump with the stripes painted over it — usually with a 40 km/h limit.
The give-way rule is exactly the same. What changes is the shape of the road: the hump makes drivers slow down whether they meant to or not, and it lifts you closer to their eye line. Same rule, made more likely to be followed.
Children’s crossings
These are the ones with the flags, and they’re the strictest crossing on an Australian road.
A children’s crossing only works when the CHILDREN CROSSING flags are out. While they are, a driver must stop if anyone is on the crossing or stepping onto it, and must not move off until the crossing is clear. Give way lets a driver roll through a gap. This doesn’t.
Names and signals change by state. South Australia has two kinds: emu crossings, with red-and-white posts, which work only when the flags are out, and koala crossings, which have two yellow lights flashing one after the other instead. Both sit inside school zones with a 25 km/h limit while they’re operating.
If a school crossing monitor holds out a STOP sign, drivers must stop at the line and can only move off once the sign is turned away.
At the lights
A marked foot crossing is the one at a set of traffic lights: two parallel broken white lines, with pedestrian signals facing you.
- Green walking figure — you can start, once you’ve checked the traffic has stopped.
- Flashing red figure — don’t start. Finish if you’re already crossing.
- Red standing figure — don’t cross.
That’s worth getting exactly right, because Britain does it the other way round. A British pelican crossing flashes the green figure to mean “don’t start”. Same instruction, opposite colour. In Australia and the United States the flashing signal is always on the stop side.
Watch for turning traffic too. A car with a green light can be turning across the crossing you’re walking on, and the driver is looking for a gap in the traffic rather than looking for you.
Two rules that apply everywhere
Use the crossing if there is one. You must not cross within 20 metres of a children’s crossing, marked foot crossing or pedestrian crossing. You cross at the crossing.
Look right, look left, look right again. The nearest lane goes right to left past you, so the right is both the first thing to check and the last thing to check before your foot leaves the kerb. The seconds between those two checks are exactly when a car can arrive.
Practise it for free
Swivelhead is a free crossing-the-road game that starts on Australian roads. Its first four levels run under Australian rules: a quiet street, a row of parked cars, a zebra crossing, and a roundabout where you cross one arm rather than the circle.
You turn your head yourself — a swipe on a phone, the mouse on a computer — so looking right and left is something you do rather than something you’re told. Cross between parked cars and the van really does block the road from you, and the game says so when it marks you. You’re marked on the decision you made at the kerb, not on whether you made it: a two-second gap you got away with is still marked as a two-second gap.
No crash is ever shown. There’s a screech, a white flash, and you’re back on the footpath with a line about what to do differently. No account, no chat, no downloads.
It’s practice, not a replacement for walking a real route with an adult.
For the British equivalents, see our guide to UK crossing types. When you’re ready for the other seat, Wheelabout puts you behind the wheel on the same roundabouts.