7.2 WALK Signals and School Safety Patrols

WALK, DON'T WALK, and who may stop you for children

Subject 5 of the GPF Theoretical Programme points candidates to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Light Signals) Regulations and to Regulations 175 to 189, including the pedestrian-signal rules and the school-patrol language inside 189(6) and (7). The Road Traffic Code’s opening part — The Road User on Foot — and its SCHOOL CROSSING PATROLS page are the same cluster in Highway Code English. This section is independent study of those published signal and patrol rules. It does not claim GPF approval, review, or partnership.

Quick Answer: WALK is shown in white letters on a black background. DON’T WALK is red. At a traffic-light junction, cross on the green light or the WALK signal only. Do not cross against the signals, a Police Constable, or a school safety patrol. A patrol wears an orange cross belt, raises the right hand above the head, and shows STOP CHILDREN CROSSING. That stop has the same authority as a Police rank in uniform.

What the Light Signals Regulations actually light

Light Signals Regulation 7(1) says light signals may be used to indicate to pedestrians the period during which it is desirable that they should or should not cross the road. That is a crossing clock, not a decoration on a lamp post.

When those signals are not used together with vehicular traffic lights, the regulation says red and green lights only shall be used, and the words DON’T WALK shall be used on the lenses showing a red light and WALK on the lenses showing a white light.

When the pedestrian signals are used in conjunction with vehicular light signals, Regulation 7(3) lists three lawful arrangements, all facing across the roadway:

1. A single lamp which, when lit, illuminates WALK in white letters on a black background.
2. Two lamps arranged vertically: the upper lamp shows a red light; the lower lamp illuminates WALK in white letters on a black background.
3. Two lamps arranged vertically: the upper lamp bears DON’T WALK in red letters on a black background; the lower lamp bears WALK in white letters on a black background.

A plate or other attachment may repeat that wording and colouring by transparency, provided the wording faces across the footway and not across the roadway. Memorise the exam colours from the plan and the booklet: WALK = white on black; DON’T WALK = red. Do not invent a third colour pair or an ISO pictogram the Guyana regulation does not print.

The old Light Signals text still prints a summary-conviction fine of GY$150 for a contravention. Treat that figure as historical regulation wording. Other GPF and Cap. 51:02 fines elsewhere in the package may be higher. Do not present GY$150 as the only modern penalty.

When a pedestrian may start — and when they must not

Code rule 7: at traffic-light-controlled intersections, cross the road on the Green Light or the WALK signal only. A vehicular green that is not your WALK, or a gap you invent on red, is not a crossing permission. DON’T WALK means stay on the footpath. WALK means the desirable period to cross — still with a look, because a turning vehicle (rule 49) or a late driver may still be in the junction.

Regulation 189(6) covers a marking placed for pedestrians at a road junction controlled by traffic signals or a Police Constable or a member of a school safety patrol, when the time permitted for that crossing is not indicated by any mechanical device. No pedestrian shall — save as provided in 189(3) — proceed across or along the road in a direction contrary to that permitted by the signals, the Constable, or that patrol member for the movement of vehicles. In plain sitting English: do not walk against the lights, the rank, or the patrol. The 189(3) hook is the person who already started before the driver received a proceed signal; that started walk is not a licence for a new pedestrian to step off against a stop.

Regulation 189(7) is the rest of the road. No pedestrian shall proceed across or along a road in the path of an approaching vehicle — other than in the circumstances permitted at a crossing or under the direction of a Police Constable or a school safety patrol — thereby endangering himself or likely to cause danger to other road users. Darting between minibuses on the East Bank because you are late is the 189(7) picture. A constable or a patrol can still send you across; a friend waving from a shop cannot.

Code rule 9(a) matches that control: if a Police rank, a member of the School Safety Patrol, or a Traffic Warden is in charge at the crossing, watch for their signals and do not cross until you are signalled to do so. Rule 13 repeats the duty: if a Police rank or a member of the School Safety Patrol and Traffic Warden is controlling traffic, be guided by their signals. Rule 9(b) is the uncontrolled case already taught in 7.1: step on to show intent, but wait for a gap.

On one-way streets, regulation 179(1) allows the words Look Left or Look Right on the road in letters 12 inches deep with strokes 2 inches wide, as a warning to pedestrians. Those words tell you which way the only legal stream is coming. They do not cancel WALK, DON’T WALK, a constable, or a patrol.

School safety patrols — how you identify them and what they may do

The Code’s SCHOOL CROSSING PATROLS page is written for drivers and for children. A number of children in each school are appointed members of the School safety patrols to help school children cross safely in school areas. They are identified by the orange cross belts they wear on duty.

Their duty is to stop all vehicular traffic when children are crossing. The recognised stop is two parts together:

1. raise the right hand above the head; and
2. exhibit a sign marked STOP CHILDREN CROSSING.

They have the same authority as a Police rank in uniform under the law. Drivers and riders of all vehicles must stop when so ordered. It is an offence for any person in charge of a vehicle to disobey that signal.

That last sentence is the exam trap. A patrol is not “just a child.” The orange belt plus the raised right hand plus STOP CHILDREN CROSSING is a legal stop. You do not roll through because you are late for work in Georgetown, because the children “look tall enough,” or because you think a learner sitting is only about painted signs. Rule 78 already requires you to observe the directions of Police controlling traffic and to stop when required by Police in uniform. The patrol page puts the child on duty in that same obedience box.

When the patrol stops you, halt short of the children and short of the crossing marking. Do not stop on the crossing (189(4)). Use the handbrake. Do not overtake at or near the crossing (rule 34). Do not sound the horn as a “hurry up” to children (rule 76 still says the horn is not right of way). Do not park so as to hide the patrol or the crossing (rule 90(c) — school entrances and obscured crossings).

Watch for children who run (rule 20). Help small children, the aged, the infirm, and the blind across when you are on foot (rule 14); when you are driving, the help is a completed halt and a still vehicle.

A Traffic Warden named in rules 9 and 13 is another authorised controller at a crossing. An unauthorised vendor is not. Rule 45 (taught with junctions) still applies: do not rely on a go-ahead wave from an unauthorised person; do accept a signal to stop unless you are sure there is no danger. A patrol’s STOP CHILDREN CROSSING is not an unauthorised wave.

Signal and patrol map

A school-gate picture

Picture a school on the East Coast at dismissal. A patrol in an orange cross belt steps out, right hand up, STOP CHILDREN CROSSING facing you. You are in a right-hand-drive hire car, keeping left. You halt on the left, short of the children. A second driver must not overtake you at that crossing. When the patrol drops the stop, you still check: a late child can run (rule 20). If lights then show DON’T WALK, new pedestrians stay on the kerb even if you now have a vehicular green.

If you live outside a town with lights, the Theoretical Programme and the Code still expect you to know WALK and DON’T WALK. If you live in the city, they still expect the orange belt and the exact sign wording. Study both. This independent chapter teaches those published signal and patrol topics; it does not replace the Light Signals pages or the Code PDF.