This from razorhead’s blog which I stumbled on the other day and is well worth a read.

There are five types of road crossing in use on UK roads:

1. Refuge: these are the islands in the centre of the road usually demarked by illuminated keep left/right signs which have be battered by cars that managed neither.
2. Zebra: marked by black and white stripes across the road, sometimes accompanied by Belisha Beacons and in 1951 marked the horribly cute reference to animals.
3. PELICAN: he name derives from a pseudo-acronym for ‘Pedestrian Light Controlled’, with the ‘o’ changed to an ‘a’ in deference to the bird. These feature a green or red cross/don’t cross figure on the signal on the opposite side of the road.
4. PUFFIN: these differ from pelican crossing by having the red/green man on the control box where the pedestrian presses the button to cross. There is no ‘blinking-green-man’ phase, but are fitted with extra sub-surface sensors to extend the crossing time if there is high demand or cancel the demand if the pedestrian moves away.
5. Toucan: are similar to puffin crossings but cyclists are also permitted to use them. The name is contrived from ‘Two Can Cross’.
6. Pegasus: similar to a pelican but feature a high mounted button for horse-riders. The red/green man is replaced by a red/green horse.