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Crossing guard


A crossing guard (United States, Canada and India), a school crossing patrol officer (United Kingdom), school crossing supervisor and sometimes guard (Australia) or school road patrol and guard (New Zealand) is a traffic management volunteer who is normally stationed on busy roadways to aid pedestrians. Often associated with elementary school children, crossing guards stop the flow of traffic so pedestrians may cross an intersection. Crossing guards are known by a variety of names, the most widely used in the United Kingdom and Australia being "lollipop lady/man", a reference to the large signs used that resemble lollipops.

In Australia and the United Kingdom, a school crossing supervisor or school crossing patrol officer is commonly known as a lollipop man or lollipop lady, because of the modified circular stop sign he or she carries, which resembles a large lollipop.The term was coined in the 1960s when road safety awareness programmes were rolled out in schools throughout the UK and the crossing patrols were introduced by the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1967.Ventriloquist John Bouchier visited schools nationwide with his ventriloquist dummy to help make children more aware of road safety. During these visits John's main character, a young boy named Charlie, referred to crossing patrol officers as "Lollipop men" for the first time. The term became widely used very quickly and has crossed into popular culture, both in the folk world (the common morris-dance tune "The Lollipop Man" has lewd lyrics in one tradition), and in the pop world (see the song by the band Sweet).

Research in the UK has revealed that crossing guards ('lollipoppers') are seen as the safest school crossing option by parents and children, with nine out of ten (92 per cent) believing that every school should have one.


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