16.1 Pedestrian Rules & the Road Crossing Code

Quick Answer: The Road Crossing Code has six steps: find a safe place and stop; stand on the pavement near the kerb; look all around and listen; let approaching traffic pass and look again; walk straight across when no traffic is near; keep looking and listening while crossing. Pedestrians must not climb over guard rails, and must not walk on an expressway, light rail area, tunnel area, or control area.

Why a Taxi Driver Studies the Pedestrian Chapter

It is tempting to skip Chapter 2 of the Road Users' Code because you will sit the test as a driver, not a walker. That is a scoring mistake. Part B draws its 35 questions from the whole Code, and the pedestrian chapter contains some of the Code's most quotable numbered rules.

There is an operational reason too. Hong Kong taxi work happens at the kerb: you stop beside crowded pavements, unload at crossings, and pull away into streams of people. Knowing what pedestrians have been told to do lets you predict the lawful ones — and, more valuable still, recognise the places where the Code's prohibitions are routinely broken.

The Road Crossing Code: Six Steps

The Code describes itself as a guide for all pedestrians on all roads, including quiet housing-estate roads. Critically, the Code says you should follow it whenever you need to cross or step onto a roadway — even if you are using a pedestrian crossing.

Two details are commonly tested and commonly misremembered:

• Step 2 says stand near the kerb but not too close to the edge — back a little way, where you are away from traffic but can still see.
• Step 5 says walk straight across, not diagonally. A diagonal path lengthens exposure time and confuses drivers about where the pedestrian is heading.

Where the Code Says to Cross

Step 1 names the safest places explicitly. Learn the list as a list:

• Footbridges and subways
• 'Zebra' crossings and 'Green Man' crossings
• Anywhere a police officer, traffic warden, or school crossing patrol is controlling a crossing place

Only if none of these is available should a pedestrian choose an open stretch — and then a place with clear sightlines in all directions where drivers can also see them.

No-Crossing Zones and Hard Prohibitions

These are the "must not" rules, and they are the ones that appear as absolute statements on the paper:

The franchised-bus exception is the trap. A candidate who remembers "pedestrians are banned from tunnel areas" but not the bus-stop carve-out will get a well-written question wrong.

Where Pedestrians Walk When There Is No Pavement

The Code's default is simple: where there is a pavement or footpath, use it, keep away from the kerb, and avoid walking close to the kerb with your back to the traffic.

When there is no pavement on either side:

1. Use the right-hand side of the road so you face oncoming traffic
2. Keep off the roadway and walk on the verge if practicable
3. Keep as close as possible to the side of the road
4. Walk in single file where possible, particularly in heavy traffic or poor visibility
5. Take special care at right-hand bends and on the brow of a hill, where visibility is poor

Note the asymmetry with driving: drivers keep left, pedestrians without a pavement keep right. That reversal exists so the pedestrian can see the vehicle that would hit them.

Conspicuity: The Numbers Worth Memorising

The Code gives one comparative figure that is easy to turn into a question:

• Reflective material can be seen in headlights from up to three times the distance of ordinary clothes.
• Fluorescent material is highly conspicuous in daylight and at dusk but is of little use in the dark.

The pairing matters: fluorescent for daylight, reflective for darkness. Swapping them is the standard distractor.

Emergency Vehicles and the Wig-Wag Signal

Pedestrians are told to keep off the roadway when they see or hear ambulances, fire engines, police, or other emergency vehicles with lights flashing or sirens sounding — and, if already crossing, to complete the crossing or return to the side as soon as possible.

Outside fire stations and similar premises there may be a wig-wag signal: two horizontal aspects showing alternating red flashing lights. When those two red lights are flashing, road users must keep clear of the driveway until the lights go off. The Code notes that emergency vehicles may not follow all traffic rules or obey all signs and signals if life is at risk — a defensive-driving point as much as a pedestrian one.

Handcarts, Trolleys, Animals and Marching Groups

Chapter 2 also covers pedestrian-controlled vehicles, and the rules are specific enough to be examinable:

• Use the pavement whenever possible with a small cart, without endangering or inconveniencing other pedestrians
• Use the roadway with a large cart, or where the pavement is crowded or too narrow — and then keep left and follow the rules for drivers
• Do not push or pull a cart the wrong way along a one-way road, or on the right-hand side of a two-way road
• Give way to pedestrians at pedestrian crossings
• Must not pass a sign banning pedestrians, rickshaws, or handcarts; must not enter a tunnel area, control area, or expressway
• Do not leave a cart or trolley unattended where it may obstruct or endanger anyone

Turning This Chapter Into Driving Skill

For the taxi cabin, three transfers matter:

1. Guard rails mean pressure. Where the Code bans climbing, pedestrians who are late will still climb. Expect a body over the rail near bus stops and MTR exits.
2. A pedestrian who stopped at the kerb is following Step 2. They are about to look, not about to step. A pedestrian who did not stop is the one to brake for.
3. Never wave anyone across. The Code tells pedestrians to judge the traffic themselves and warns them not to expect drivers to slow down. Section 16.4 covers why a driver's signal must never be used as an instruction.

Section Takeaways

1. Road Crossing Code = six steps, and it applies even on pedestrian crossings.
2. Safest places: footbridge, subway, Zebra, Green Man, controlled crossing.
3. Hard bans: guard rails, expressway, light rail area, tunnel/control area (franchised-bus exception), pedestrian-ban signs.
4. No pavement → right-hand side facing traffic, single file, off the roadway where practicable.
5. Reflective = 3× distance in headlights; fluorescent works by day, not in the dark.