Proposal talk:Tag:flashing lights:design

Love it, and thanks for including the obscure (and useless) "Hawk" beacon. I know it is in early stages of the proposal, but some examples of how to map all of a crossing with these features in the future would also be nice.

A few things, you may already be aware in your noble crusade, in the UK while there may be some markings painted on the ground that are a zebra, it doesn't necessarily mean it is a zebra crossing with flashing belisha beacons, so being able to include if it has a flashing light or not will be nice if this proposal is accepted

Also, in a lot of European countries, at night time traffic light controlled junctions will (without a sign) turn into flashing amber "standard" lights, instead of Red, amber, green. I think this happens in the USA, but they have a sign or a separate light.

Its a +1 from me --O0235 (talk) 23:56, 18 January 2026 (UTC)

Good to hear the supportive words! First of all, flashing_lights=* already exists. So you can already indicate whether or not there is a flashing light; just not what type.

Also: f*ck. I didn't known of the possibility of having traffic lights turn into a 'flashing light' at night; that is a blind spot in the current tagging schemes. In Belgium, the traffic lights go into 'flashing amber'-mode only if there is a defect with the controller... Either way, I feel that this should not be addressed by this proposal. --Pietervdvn (talk) 00:03, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

The joys of open discussion eh! Possibly conditionals could be a cover for the timed flashing lights? I think France does this (as I'm sure it is where I learned it), and I was on a business trip in Germany, and my boss got really confused getting to a set of lights (just after getting caught by a speed camera :D ) and they were flashing amber, and didn't know what to do until i suggested what it meant.

In the UK though... i think it's the same. I think they only flash amber when they develop a fault. --O0235 (talk) 00:43, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Nope. The only place a flashing amber phase is used in the UK for signal controlled crossings is for an old-fashioned type of signal controlled pedestrian crossing referred to a Pelican crossing. With those crossings the flashing amber phase was after the lights had been red and was paired with a flashing green man for the pedestrians. It was to allow traffic to begin to flow again if pedestrians had completed crossing the crossing at the point the flashing amber phase occurred. If pedestrians had not completed crossing then it still meant stop.

Pelican crossings are becoming rarer and rarer as they are being replaced with Puffin crossings that eliminate the flashing amber phase and are simply phased like any other UK traffic lights, ie green; amber; red; red and amber; then back to green. Toucan crossings are the same as Puffin except both cyclists and pedestrians can use them, with appropriate variation green cycles and pedestrians. Pegasus crossings are the same as Puffin crossings except that horse riders can use them as well as pedestrians, with appropriate variation green horse riders and pedestrians.

Outside of Pelican crossings in the UK flashing amber lights are used on the ubiquitous Belisha beacons for zebra crossings and also with some signs such as a school zone sign with its advisory speed limit. Davidpnewton (talk) 12:46, 15 February 2026 (UTC)