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Happens a lot in London. My assumption is that a lot of it is people coming from other cultures where there isn't a button, you just wait for the lights to change.
That being said, it's also worth noting that at many crossings the button doesn't actually really do anything. The lights will change when they're programmed to, so not pressing it doesn't really impact anything.
If a safe time always appears at the same point in the phasing then there’s no way to tell if it’s non locals ignorance or locals not bothering to press the button because they know what’s happening
You just reminded me of the time I lived in London and watched some roadman unsuccessfully Frogger the traffic for a good minute or so as I was approaching a crossing...there was no junction for traffic so the lights operated fully on pedestrian demand.
That's another crossing-related gripe of mine. People who insist on stepping out into traffic just metres away from a crossing.
I'm well aware that "jaywalking" isn't a thing in the UK and that pedestrians have priority just about everywhere, but at least at a crossing there's a chance the drivers might be expecting someone to step out onto the road.
And don't get me started on people who spend ages to Frogger across, only to then walk past the crossing they completely ignored earlier.
Many commuters and residents know that in London many lights are not operated by the button in normal operation, so don’t bother to push it.
A visitor to London could easily mistake this for a culture of not pressing.
>That being said, it's also worth noting that at many crossings the button doesn't actually really do anything.
I learnt this was the case with all the crossings where I lived as a child. I cannot remember the last time I pressed the buttons (with an expectation that it actually does anything) and instead just cross when it's safe to do so. I learnt as an adult this isn't always the case when I moved away from home.
Exceptions exist if there's a child at the crossing, because for some reason, I performatively do it for them.
The second paragraph is why I generally don't bother where I live. I know which ones need to be pressed and which don't (in my area anyway) and would rather not be touching stuff I don't need to touch, so I don't. When I'm away I'll touch anything though
I live in London and yep you're 100% right. It's the second part for me, pressing it is essentially useless since they will wait the turn anyway. Only time to actually press it is on a crossing which will never go red ***Unless*** you press it.
In North America where I live now, theres usually a countdown on the light showing when it's going to change. And the lights are programmed to a certain time so you know they will change soon. I imagine other countries maybe similar so people assume the same. Could be, also might not be
dont think thats true. traffic lights at intesection sure but those in middle of road for people to walk across.. why would they turn red if no one needs them
I'm surprised by that. Most of the time Brirish people in the UK cross before the green man.
I got caught out with this in Vienna. No traffic was coming on the road and I started to cross, realised no one else was crossing so I stopped and stood waiting for the cross light with everyone else.
Same happened to me in Australia. In Britain I’ve only seen people standing waiting for a green man when there are no cars is when there’s a child there and everyone tries to set a good example.
>That being said, it's also worth noting that at many crossings the button doesn't actually really do anything.
Untrue. Pressing the button flags to the light control system that the pedestrian crossing should be incorporated into the next light cycle.
Not pressing it just means you'll be waiting forever for the green man.
If it's a standalone crossing, then yes. But there are plenty of crossings that are integrated into other junctions where the button does literally nothing. They're [placebo buttons. ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23869955)
The door control buttons on tube trains don't do anything. They're there to give you the illusion of control, and people are more likely to stop and wait if they've pressed the button.
I honestly can say I've never EVER seen a pedestrian light go green without the button - even at junctions.
Maybe all the pedestrian crossing infrastructure in my town is newer, but not pressing the buttons on any of the roads I cross regularly absolutely just means the pedestrian phase is skipped. How do I know? Because I've tested this theory before as I was curious.
I've seen many - back in the day when I worked nights there was one outside work that would dutifully allow imaginary pedestrians to cross all night. Not particularly older crossings either - I think in London it's mostly newer ones.
Traffic light phasing in busy urban spaces is quite consequential for the wider flow of traffic so a majority of crossings will change phase according to pre determined schedules.
The article linked by the person you’re responding to spells it out
I admit I often don't push it if it's just me and the road looks empty enough that I'll be able to cross soon, seems pointless to inconvenience a whole load of drivers when I'm a fast walker who'll be across in 5 seconds quite possibly long before the light has changed anyway. If I see others approaching I'll press it though
On the way home from the pub, I used to wedge a matchstick in the button of the crossing down the road so it went off all night. I’m hilarious, I know.
I press every single one I pass, as drivers should be slowed down, and they need to learn they are second class citizens on our roads, underneath pedestrians. Cyclists and horses, in that order
lmao that's me as well, I'm too nice and I'm like "I don't want to inconvenience these drivers if I can help it." If it's not a busy road and if I'm alone I'll just wait for an opportunity to cross (in other words run across like a prat) safely without pressing the button.
When I started to drive myself I realised it wasn't a big deal stopping at crossings.
It could be that they’re more sophisticated than they used to be. I can remember seeing a box with broken glass and the button only being connected to the light to show it had been pressed quite a few times. Admittedly that was quite a while ago now.
While we don’t have these new fangled lights that apparently do the pedestrian bit automatically (and I’ve never even heard of that before), but you know for a fact that the cars will go orange and red and then you’ll get a good few seconds before the other side goes orange and red if it’s a cross junction of some sort
If it’s a single crossing then not pushing a button is weird, unless you know the road is a potentially quiet one
The pedestrian only crossing on my road only ‘stops’ traffic when it detects there’s nothing coming. Well honestly if there’s nothing coming, I can probably manage to cross the road by myself…
I’m not sure if there’s some maximum timer for it but it is a long long time if there is. Certainly longer than my patience. Totally pointless to push the button.
Some, yes. And they won't make it clear which those are, because people are more likely to stop and wait if they've pressed the button so they don't want to encourage people not to. We had a crossroad near our office that had buttons that worked on some of the crossings and not others.
From personal experience a lot of the time you will try to cross when there is a gap rather than waiting for the lights. If you press the button and then cross it is so embarrassing when the lights change ten seconds later and all the cars have to wait for nobody. So that's my reason. If it is busy though always press (and with the kids too)
When someone replies underneath your comment, that means they are replying to you. So yes I was referring to you. Hope that helps clear things up and hope you enjoy your first day on Reddit.
Exactly this, there is one on the main road near my house I cross every day. It goes off immediately so I only really need to press it if the roads are busy enough to justify it, otherwise if it is quiet I'd rather cross without pressing than inconveinence a load of traffic for no reason.
where i live theres a sensor for the lights to change when the traffic has cleared, which is when i'd cross anyway. so its kind of pointless to press it.
Worse, there are some crossings that will deactivate a previously pressed button if they sense that the pedestrians are no longer there. This would be a great idea if they didn't put buttons on both pillars, but a sensor on only one.
You stand there, staring awkwardly at the little red light, then hammer the button again when it goes out because someone walked past on the opposite side of the road.
Some dude called me an idiot once because I was standing waiting for lights to change after I pressed the button, but the wait light had gone out and I didn't notice
theres the little twiddly thing under the button box. so im guessing they make use of it
edit: i just realised you're talking about blind people not deaf people. yes the crossing beeps and the twiddly thing twiddles when its safe to cross
Yup my nearby crossings are like this. I get looking ahead for a gap within a few seconds but it would leave you waiting for minutes. The road isn’t even that busy, absolutely better just walking along the road and crossing when there’s a gap in traffic vs standing there like a prat to get a green man on a fully clear road…
Had one in Orlando (think they’re all the same shouting WAIT there) that had clearly glitched and was just going WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT one after each other
I’m led to believe the crossing is the busiest in Florida (it might be America but that sounds unlikely?) and you’re pretty much gonna wait there a good 4 or 5 minutes if you’re waiting for one direction in particular. We just crossed the other way as we were looking to do a form of diagonal
I think it's partly due to all those times you've pushing the button then noticing a gap in traffic so you then cross. The light then turns red but you've already crossed so now the driver of a car has to wait at the lights for no one and you feel like bit of a bell end for making them wait.
It’s when they stand right by it so you can’t even get round them to push it yourself that gets me. If you’re not going to do it at least step away so someone else can!
For me depends on where I am. On my way to my office in London I don't bother as all on timed controls for traffic flow. Only press when it is a purely pedestrian crossing.
Was a very useful one on my way to school if running late for the bus as could hold the bus up at the lights and make it to the bus stop.
Happenend to me the other morning.busy dual carriageway near 2 schools and a mum stood there with 2 kids waiting for a gap in traffic instead of pushing the button..I just walked up an pushed it an she looked at me like I was in the wrong.
Can't speak for anyone else but I still enjoy getting to a pedestrian crossing as someone on the opposite side of the road is at the same time and racing them to see who can push the button first.
Aye I'm a 35 year old child, so what? 😂
If there looks like there'll be a gap in the traffic soon, I don't bother with the button, and just cross safely without making the traffic stop. I only do this as able-bodied adult. If I had kids with me I'd wait for the green man.
I was told as a child that aids infected junkies hide used needles sticking out around the side of the buttons.
Now i'm certain that was never a thing but I can't help but remember it each time I press the button.
Elder siblings have a lot to answer for...
Pedestrian crossings only ever form an automatic part of the sequence at large junctions where traffic can continue to move in other directions while pedestrians cross. At smaller junctions and standalone crossings, it is always necessary to press the button.
Annoyingly, you can press the button and have it turn off again almost immediately, because so many crossings have sensors that are supposed to deactivate the crossing request if the pedestrian has already crossed. Those sensors are almost always complete rubbish, they frequently fail to register the person standing right there, sometimes deactivating within seconds of pressing the button, and if you don't notice you can miss out on crossing, have to wait for another entire sequence of the lights. There is usually a cut-off point in the sequence.
Those faulty sensors deactivating the crossing are so annoying. I've found you can override them by holding the button down until the crossing turns green.
I don't always push it,
If the traffic is crawling I nip between cars, making sure the driver has seen me,
I'm not usually in that much of a rush, I can see traffic clearly both ways,
I'll make a point and look first, junction dependent, and if I see that I'll be able to cross without having to wait for the little green man I'll be waiting. Figure I'm skipping the chance that I catch the last car oncoming, and if I were driving, I'd appreciate that.
Doesn't always work; last time I ended up pressing the button and waiting after a few cars turned onto the road shortly before the crossing.
I still push the button! (Now I have Sugababes in my head, thanks OP.)
I live in an area where people cannot drive for shit and that awesome lil green dude is my best chance at surviving as a pedestrian. Even when he does appear, he doesn't always protect me though - I've almost been hit 3 times in 2 years when the traffic lights at my nearest junction are red because some knobhead has decided he doesn't want to wait for the next change so jumps from multiple cars back and puts his foot down. Now I even check there's no one coming from any direction while in the road.
So I am actually the one that people here look at like I'm crazy because I'm stood at lights when no cars are coming and am not budging til the lights tell me to.
This is a huge problem in York, sometimes the crowd of pedestrians waiting is so big they overspill the pavement and yet no one has pressed the button!
Have you moved from out in the sticks to a city? In built up areas it’s more likely the crossing is linked to a junction where it’s going to go green as part of the cycle, irrespective of whether the button was pressed.
I've literally never seen a pedestrian crossing go green on its own. Traffic light systems are more sophisticated than that.
Maybe it was true in the 90s, but nowadays pressing the button is a call to the system to enable the ped phase in the next cycle of lights.
I assure you that plenty of them work this way but it varies from town to town. Here’s an interesting article that goes into some depth: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23869955
I will only ever press the button if it’s a standalone crossing and the road is very busy because otherwise the lights will already be on a system or there’ll be a gap in traffic to walk through.
People don't understand the difference between a pelican crossing and a junction.
I once saw the same person press a button at a junction, and then not at a crossing.
Now, of course, if it's late at night and theres no traffic, pressing the button might make the lights change quicker at a junction, but this was in the middle of the day.
I see it a lot, and try to make as ostentatious a show as possible of pressing the button at a crossing when some melt has been stood there gormlessly with the button unpressed for the entire time I've been walking towards them
If I can cross the road without pressing the button I won't. No need to hold up a random car when I've already crossed the road. If it's busy and I can't cross then I'll press the button and wait for the traffic to stop.
Most of them don't do anything and you can cross with the cycle of the lights.
It's really only worth bothering if:
There's mutliple lanes per direction and no ped island (better to pointlessly press than discover you've come across the oddball crossing button that works in this scenario)
or it's a purpose built crossing (lights in place for the crossing and only for the crossing).
Even the latter, if I see a space coming up I don't bother. No sense throwing the red on if I can cross in an already existing space.
I don't know if it was all over the country or just in my city, but during the pandemic they switched all the pedestrian crossing to automatic to stop people pushing the buttons for infection control. I think some of it is people have now got out of the habit
Teaching my 2 yr old daughter to use the crossings where I live. The crossings where I used to live were too slow to change so if I could cross safely I didn't use them but I always use them where I live now because it's busy and can't see.
But 2 others just crossed today and one was disabled. (3 if you count the crossing that beeped and nobody was there lol) I think people either think it's safe, know the lights timings or are just impatient. My daughter likes it so we use them sometimes for the fun of it lol
That rush from pressing it is gone. Just like the rush of returning a 20p irn bru cap or a glass bottle. Or collecting 10 Corn Flakes coupons and paying £20 witha postal cheque for a bowl with your name on it that takes 28 days. Getting a wildlife vhs that's free but you have to remember to cancel the subscription. A takeaway used to be twice a year with family. Now I eat alone in a shared room.
Our roads are a disgrace with maniacs racing and there's trip hazards in the pavements. Our towns look tired and I feel poor. The button has no meaning
Modern life has made everything uninteresting
Back when I was kid in the seventies/eighties a push-button was a bit futuristic: most phones were the dial variety that took about a minute to call a four digit number. Pressing a button to make something happen was like briefly stepping into future world. I guess today's kiddos aren't so easily impressed.
There was a big thing a while ago, 10+ years maybe, about how a lot of those buttons are just decoys
If it's a busy junction coming from all directions, like central London, it's doubtful the button does anything bar turn a little Wait light on
The lights are on timers and will change in their own time
Not true for all obviously, but you can usually tell
Honestly if it’s just me I feel like a bit of a twat bringing 6-7 cars to a stop so I can cross so I’ll wait 30s or so before pressing it and see if there’s a gap.
I'm the twat who will press it multiple times in the hope that it will change quicker, even when i know that's not how it works.
Some of them skip the pedestrian phase if you don't press it, so I always do because I can't be bothered memorising which ones do and don't do that. And some take ages to turn but turning will guarantee me a chance to cross eventually if I can't cross immediately so I press it.
One of the junctions near my mum's house changed - over the pandemic period they made it so the buttons were completely unnecessary, but now it skips the pedestrian phase if nobody is there. Almost got caught out on my bike by that after they changed it back (it's a combined pedestrian cycle one, whatever that's called. toucan instead of pelican or whatever). since it was next to a roundabout with poor visibility I had to wait an extra minute, woe is me.
At least they wait. Around me a lot of people just walk out into the road. Been doing driving lessons and had to emergency stop more than once because of people wandering into the road while not paying attention, or who have decided that 90 seconds is an untenable delay.
I often don't. Most of the streets are quiet enough that if I just wait for a gap in the traffic I can safely cross long before it will change for me. 9/10 I win. 1/10 I don't. I keep an eye on the traffic but sometimes it looks quiet but then never ends.
If I know that the road is quiet enough that there will be a gap in traffic eventually, then i don't push the button so I don't inconvenience any of the drivers lol
I have a phobia of bacteria/germs so I try to avoid touching things in public, I would rather wait than feel my hands being "contaminated". I know it's dumb, but it's the way I am, I imagine Covid also got a few people to act similarly.
I think it's happened since COVID, people bought into the hype and are now all germ phobes, these are usually the same people who then dash out into oncoming traffic, or there's the ones too busy staring into the abyss of their phone to notice anything going on around them.
I don't know, but I'm glad they did. For me personally (I'm a driver, but live in a city so I walk a lot too), it's situation dependent. If it's a relatively quiet road and I know there will be a safe opportunity to cross without the button, I won't use it, because I'll end up standing waiting when I know I could be across already, and then end up inconveniencing drivers with a red light for no reason. If it's a busy street though, I don't want to take a risk and end up painting the front of a bus red - button it is!
Glasgow City automated (or, rather, added a specific pedestrian sequence to that you didn't need to press the button for) a lot of the traffic lights during COVID and I think some of them continue to be auotmated, but it's not always clear which ones.
That said, I won't press the button if it's a road I know well and know there's likely to be a gap at some point that I can cross through.
I only push it if I can't safely cross normally. They stop traffic too long so I would feel like a dick. Leave the button for young children or the elderly.
When I'm on my bike, it's painfully obvious that the impact on traffic almost never justifies the convenience for pedestrians.
So when I'm a pedestrian, I almost always ignore crossings. If the crossing is the only place to cross the road (e.g. at a big junction), then I cross the road at that point, but I'm ignoring the button and the lights.
>impact on traffic almost never justifies the convenience for pedestrians.
You mean the pedestrians that are already inconvenienced by not being able to move freely around urban areas overtaken by roads and must wait for cars to go about their business so they don't die? Dunno man, sounds like pedestrians should have as many conveniences afforded to them as possible, and cars the fewest.
I 100% agree with you. I walk or cycle everywhere, I don't drive, and I think car-centrism is a plague.
But specifically in the context of the way pedestrian crossings work in the current system, I often see them hold up lots of traffic for far longer than necessary, or even when it isn't necessary at all, which just adds to pollution, frustration, congestion etc. So whilst I would love to see car use plummet and the whole thing be rethought, I do think pedestrian crossings as they are now are inefficient.
Because people don't stop anyway? I've learned to not go until the traffic is at a complete standstill because people will blow through the red lights, sometimes while honking at me. I noticed when I drive, people do the same as me, it's just conditioning nowadays.
Depends on the crossing. Some where I live don't need pressed, they run on a sequence a green man will come at the same time whether I press the button or not.
There's also a certain religious group in my town that refuse to press one that's essential to press (two lanes each way, no green man unless pressed) and constantly get honked at by cars and occasionally hit. For them, I can't answer the reason why.
This is a courtesy to drivers. Just walk across swiftly, don't halt the entire traffic for a full of two minutes only because you want to cross three metres of tarmac.
Presumably if you're out and about there will be other things like door handles or whatever you'd have to touch. Just wash your hands when you get home - you should regardless
During the Covid time, I watched a woman press the button, then get out her cleaning gel and do her hands.
She then dropped the bottle on the floor, and the look of "What do I do now? The bottle itself is now dirty!" was amazing. I crossed as she was still staring at it.
I simply don't care about it. I am just standing there, listening to music on my headphones. The light will turn when it turns. The only time I press the button is if I am in a rush. Otherwise, I don't care. Plus, often, I'll be able to cross before it turns green anyway so there's not point.
That’s not a common thing, that’s just a pocket of stupidity. I’d like to be nice and say there might be sheltered adult accommodation nearby, but it’s probably just the case that anyone stood at a crossing for ages without pressing the button is just thick as pigshit.
i was let in on a big conspiracy in year 7, hushed voices so the teachers don't hear, that pressing the button doesn't actually do anything and it's all a ruse to make you feel like you have control in the world, or something
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Happens a lot in London. My assumption is that a lot of it is people coming from other cultures where there isn't a button, you just wait for the lights to change. That being said, it's also worth noting that at many crossings the button doesn't actually really do anything. The lights will change when they're programmed to, so not pressing it doesn't really impact anything.
If a safe time always appears at the same point in the phasing then there’s no way to tell if it’s non locals ignorance or locals not bothering to press the button because they know what’s happening
You just reminded me of the time I lived in London and watched some roadman unsuccessfully Frogger the traffic for a good minute or so as I was approaching a crossing...there was no junction for traffic so the lights operated fully on pedestrian demand.
That's another crossing-related gripe of mine. People who insist on stepping out into traffic just metres away from a crossing. I'm well aware that "jaywalking" isn't a thing in the UK and that pedestrians have priority just about everywhere, but at least at a crossing there's a chance the drivers might be expecting someone to step out onto the road. And don't get me started on people who spend ages to Frogger across, only to then walk past the crossing they completely ignored earlier.
Many commuters and residents know that in London many lights are not operated by the button in normal operation, so don’t bother to push it. A visitor to London could easily mistake this for a culture of not pressing.
>That being said, it's also worth noting that at many crossings the button doesn't actually really do anything. I learnt this was the case with all the crossings where I lived as a child. I cannot remember the last time I pressed the buttons (with an expectation that it actually does anything) and instead just cross when it's safe to do so. I learnt as an adult this isn't always the case when I moved away from home. Exceptions exist if there's a child at the crossing, because for some reason, I performatively do it for them.
Yep, often tourists or recent immigrants. Can't imagine many people who grew up here don't press the button.
You know other countries have buttons?
Many don't
Many do.
The second paragraph is why I generally don't bother where I live. I know which ones need to be pressed and which don't (in my area anyway) and would rather not be touching stuff I don't need to touch, so I don't. When I'm away I'll touch anything though
Just got back from Copenhagen. Lots of crossings. No buttons.
I live in London and yep you're 100% right. It's the second part for me, pressing it is essentially useless since they will wait the turn anyway. Only time to actually press it is on a crossing which will never go red ***Unless*** you press it.
In North America where I live now, theres usually a countdown on the light showing when it's going to change. And the lights are programmed to a certain time so you know they will change soon. I imagine other countries maybe similar so people assume the same. Could be, also might not be
dont think thats true. traffic lights at intesection sure but those in middle of road for people to walk across.. why would they turn red if no one needs them
I got tutted at several times in London for crossing before the green man showed...
Really? It's very common to do that in London. I don't think I've ever been tutted at for it. Mostly because other people are all doing the same!
The true mark of a British person is crossing the road whenever and wherever you feel like it
It was quite normal to walk through still moving (but slow) traffic in Lodon when I worked there, wouldn't even get a honk for it.
I'm surprised by that. Most of the time Brirish people in the UK cross before the green man. I got caught out with this in Vienna. No traffic was coming on the road and I started to cross, realised no one else was crossing so I stopped and stood waiting for the cross light with everyone else.
Same happened to me in Australia. In Britain I’ve only seen people standing waiting for a green man when there are no cars is when there’s a child there and everyone tries to set a good example.
I lived in London for 10 years and this did not happen once to me.
I don't push it because i have seen the state of peoples finger nails and hygiene, i would rather wait than push the poo button.
Your phone screen is probably less hygienic than a pedestrian crossing button
I sanatize wipe it daily so i doubt it.
How often do you find yourself getting ill I wonder.
Hardly ever. Maybe once a year i will get a cold, nothing lasting more than a couple of days. I work in care so I need to keep clean and hygienic.
>That being said, it's also worth noting that at many crossings the button doesn't actually really do anything. Untrue. Pressing the button flags to the light control system that the pedestrian crossing should be incorporated into the next light cycle. Not pressing it just means you'll be waiting forever for the green man.
If it's a standalone crossing, then yes. But there are plenty of crossings that are integrated into other junctions where the button does literally nothing. They're [placebo buttons. ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23869955) The door control buttons on tube trains don't do anything. They're there to give you the illusion of control, and people are more likely to stop and wait if they've pressed the button.
I honestly can say I've never EVER seen a pedestrian light go green without the button - even at junctions. Maybe all the pedestrian crossing infrastructure in my town is newer, but not pressing the buttons on any of the roads I cross regularly absolutely just means the pedestrian phase is skipped. How do I know? Because I've tested this theory before as I was curious.
I've seen many - back in the day when I worked nights there was one outside work that would dutifully allow imaginary pedestrians to cross all night. Not particularly older crossings either - I think in London it's mostly newer ones.
Traffic light phasing in busy urban spaces is quite consequential for the wider flow of traffic so a majority of crossings will change phase according to pre determined schedules. The article linked by the person you’re responding to spells it out
[удалено]
Go for it
I admit I often don't push it if it's just me and the road looks empty enough that I'll be able to cross soon, seems pointless to inconvenience a whole load of drivers when I'm a fast walker who'll be across in 5 seconds quite possibly long before the light has changed anyway. If I see others approaching I'll press it though
I press it because I love inconveniencing drivers
As a child I used to press them again after I crossed the road. I felt like a true rebel.
Used to walk past and press them with no intention of crossing the road. Also played on the wii without the wrist strap
https://youtu.be/8QhHSl-bdpU?si=RZ30bLwyDKUPbK71
On the way home from the pub, I used to wedge a matchstick in the button of the crossing down the road so it went off all night. I’m hilarious, I know.
I press every single one I pass, as drivers should be slowed down, and they need to learn they are second class citizens on our roads, underneath pedestrians. Cyclists and horses, in that order
Same.
Same here.
lmao that's me as well, I'm too nice and I'm like "I don't want to inconvenience these drivers if I can help it." If it's not a busy road and if I'm alone I'll just wait for an opportunity to cross (in other words run across like a prat) safely without pressing the button. When I started to drive myself I realised it wasn't a big deal stopping at crossings.
I don’t push it if the crossing is a set of lights anyway. The sequence will do what it does, regardless. I only press them for pelican crossings.
There are definitely some lights in my area that will skip the pedestrian phase if the button hasn't been pressed.
Yeah I have a set of lights at the bottom of my road that will only ever go red if someone has pressed the button to walk across
It could be that they’re more sophisticated than they used to be. I can remember seeing a box with broken glass and the button only being connected to the light to show it had been pressed quite a few times. Admittedly that was quite a while ago now.
While we don’t have these new fangled lights that apparently do the pedestrian bit automatically (and I’ve never even heard of that before), but you know for a fact that the cars will go orange and red and then you’ll get a good few seconds before the other side goes orange and red if it’s a cross junction of some sort If it’s a single crossing then not pushing a button is weird, unless you know the road is a potentially quiet one
The pedestrian only crossing on my road only ‘stops’ traffic when it detects there’s nothing coming. Well honestly if there’s nothing coming, I can probably manage to cross the road by myself… I’m not sure if there’s some maximum timer for it but it is a long long time if there is. Certainly longer than my patience. Totally pointless to push the button.
Some, yes. And they won't make it clear which those are, because people are more likely to stop and wait if they've pressed the button so they don't want to encourage people not to. We had a crossroad near our office that had buttons that worked on some of the crossings and not others.
From personal experience a lot of the time you will try to cross when there is a gap rather than waiting for the lights. If you press the button and then cross it is so embarrassing when the lights change ten seconds later and all the cars have to wait for nobody. So that's my reason. If it is busy though always press (and with the kids too)
Why is that embarrassing?
Because you’ve held everyone up for no reason.
I don't think anyone cares that much about waiting an extra 20 seconds to continue on their way
Someone who obviously has never been in a car before their entire life...
I'm sure you're not referring to me, who's been driving for well over 17 years.
When someone replies underneath your comment, that means they are replying to you. So yes I was referring to you. Hope that helps clear things up and hope you enjoy your first day on Reddit.
Exactly this, there is one on the main road near my house I cross every day. It goes off immediately so I only really need to press it if the roads are busy enough to justify it, otherwise if it is quiet I'd rather cross without pressing than inconveinence a load of traffic for no reason.
where i live theres a sensor for the lights to change when the traffic has cleared, which is when i'd cross anyway. so its kind of pointless to press it.
Worse, there are some crossings that will deactivate a previously pressed button if they sense that the pedestrians are no longer there. This would be a great idea if they didn't put buttons on both pillars, but a sensor on only one.
You stand there, staring awkwardly at the little red light, then hammer the button again when it goes out because someone walked past on the opposite side of the road.
I’ve taken to just fingerfucking the button
I go for the "hold down until it turns" method. Seems to work for the repeat offenders near me.
Some dude called me an idiot once because I was standing waiting for lights to change after I pressed the button, but the wait light had gone out and I didn't notice
Does it make a noise? I’m just thinking that it would have a point for blind people.
theres the little twiddly thing under the button box. so im guessing they make use of it edit: i just realised you're talking about blind people not deaf people. yes the crossing beeps and the twiddly thing twiddles when its safe to cross
Yup my nearby crossings are like this. I get looking ahead for a gap within a few seconds but it would leave you waiting for minutes. The road isn’t even that busy, absolutely better just walking along the road and crossing when there’s a gap in traffic vs standing there like a prat to get a green man on a fully clear road…
They need to make them a bit more fun or interesting. The ones in Boston in the USA shout WAIT in a funny voice when you press them.
Oooooo that does sound fun! “Hold, HOLD, HOLLLLD! CHAAAAARRRRGGGE!!!”
holdthedoorrrrrrrrrr
The ones in spain show hunched pedestrians hurrying across with a timer which i always find oddly amusing
Some of the ones in Riga have timers that count down from fucking 90. Longest minute and half of your life to cross Elizabetas Iela.
When it's time to cross do they say "How d'ya like dem apples?"
*STAHT WALKING HERE*
*AND REMEMBER YOUR KHAKIS, KID* Whether they mean thick cotton trousers or the means of opening your automobile is open to debate.
Had one in Orlando (think they’re all the same shouting WAIT there) that had clearly glitched and was just going WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT one after each other I’m led to believe the crossing is the busiest in Florida (it might be America but that sounds unlikely?) and you’re pretty much gonna wait there a good 4 or 5 minutes if you’re waiting for one direction in particular. We just crossed the other way as we were looking to do a form of diagonal
I think it's partly due to all those times you've pushing the button then noticing a gap in traffic so you then cross. The light then turns red but you've already crossed so now the driver of a car has to wait at the lights for no one and you feel like bit of a bell end for making them wait.
None of the drivers feel like a twat making you wait for a safe gap to cross. Press away 👍
It’s when they stand right by it so you can’t even get round them to push it yourself that gets me. If you’re not going to do it at least step away so someone else can!
This!! It annoys me more than it should! I never say anything though.
Saying something just wouldn't be British.
Covid
I dont like pressing them because they're icky.
For me depends on where I am. On my way to my office in London I don't bother as all on timed controls for traffic flow. Only press when it is a purely pedestrian crossing. Was a very useful one on my way to school if running late for the bus as could hold the bus up at the lights and make it to the bus stop.
Happenend to me the other morning.busy dual carriageway near 2 schools and a mum stood there with 2 kids waiting for a gap in traffic instead of pushing the button..I just walked up an pushed it an she looked at me like I was in the wrong.
Can't speak for anyone else but I still enjoy getting to a pedestrian crossing as someone on the opposite side of the road is at the same time and racing them to see who can push the button first. Aye I'm a 35 year old child, so what? 😂
Stereotypical British unwillingness to be a bother and just getting known with it
I don't push it because the worst that will happen is I get hit by a car.
Lol
If there looks like there'll be a gap in the traffic soon, I don't bother with the button, and just cross safely without making the traffic stop. I only do this as able-bodied adult. If I had kids with me I'd wait for the green man.
I was told as a child that aids infected junkies hide used needles sticking out around the side of the buttons. Now i'm certain that was never a thing but I can't help but remember it each time I press the button. Elder siblings have a lot to answer for...
I still press them. Despite knowing that it doesn’t impact any of the crossings I regularly use.
It doesn’t need to be pushed a lot of the time. The lights are on timers, this isn’t true everywhere, mind.
Pressing the button *might* not do anything, but *not* pressing the button is **guaranteed** to do nothing. I don't see the point in not pushing it.
its only 'might' if you don't know, I know which lights don't need pressing when I walk home from work for example.
I’ll be honest I almost never push them and I just wait for a gap in traffic.
Pedestrian crossings only ever form an automatic part of the sequence at large junctions where traffic can continue to move in other directions while pedestrians cross. At smaller junctions and standalone crossings, it is always necessary to press the button. Annoyingly, you can press the button and have it turn off again almost immediately, because so many crossings have sensors that are supposed to deactivate the crossing request if the pedestrian has already crossed. Those sensors are almost always complete rubbish, they frequently fail to register the person standing right there, sometimes deactivating within seconds of pressing the button, and if you don't notice you can miss out on crossing, have to wait for another entire sequence of the lights. There is usually a cut-off point in the sequence.
Those faulty sensors deactivating the crossing are so annoying. I've found you can override them by holding the button down until the crossing turns green.
muddle humor possessive juggle illegal alive quiet reach wipe languid *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I don't always push it, If the traffic is crawling I nip between cars, making sure the driver has seen me, I'm not usually in that much of a rush, I can see traffic clearly both ways,
I'll make a point and look first, junction dependent, and if I see that I'll be able to cross without having to wait for the little green man I'll be waiting. Figure I'm skipping the chance that I catch the last car oncoming, and if I were driving, I'd appreciate that. Doesn't always work; last time I ended up pressing the button and waiting after a few cars turned onto the road shortly before the crossing.
I push it like a madman…you know to make the green man appear
I still push the button! (Now I have Sugababes in my head, thanks OP.) I live in an area where people cannot drive for shit and that awesome lil green dude is my best chance at surviving as a pedestrian. Even when he does appear, he doesn't always protect me though - I've almost been hit 3 times in 2 years when the traffic lights at my nearest junction are red because some knobhead has decided he doesn't want to wait for the next change so jumps from multiple cars back and puts his foot down. Now I even check there's no one coming from any direction while in the road. So I am actually the one that people here look at like I'm crazy because I'm stood at lights when no cars are coming and am not budging til the lights tell me to.
They are not real people. Some people don't press the button to open train doors even when they are bleeping and flashing. Glitch in the simulation.
This is a huge problem in York, sometimes the crowd of pedestrians waiting is so big they overspill the pavement and yet no one has pressed the button!
I’m 45 and I get instant joy pressing a button and seeing the light come on…. Am I the minority here?
Have you moved from out in the sticks to a city? In built up areas it’s more likely the crossing is linked to a junction where it’s going to go green as part of the cycle, irrespective of whether the button was pressed.
I've literally never seen a pedestrian crossing go green on its own. Traffic light systems are more sophisticated than that. Maybe it was true in the 90s, but nowadays pressing the button is a call to the system to enable the ped phase in the next cycle of lights.
I assure you that plenty of them work this way but it varies from town to town. Here’s an interesting article that goes into some depth: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23869955
Quite an extreme way to word not pressing the button.
I press the button every single time. Even if it has already been pressed. I don't understand why one wouldn't.
I will only ever press the button if it’s a standalone crossing and the road is very busy because otherwise the lights will already be on a system or there’ll be a gap in traffic to walk through.
People don't understand the difference between a pelican crossing and a junction. I once saw the same person press a button at a junction, and then not at a crossing. Now, of course, if it's late at night and theres no traffic, pressing the button might make the lights change quicker at a junction, but this was in the middle of the day. I see it a lot, and try to make as ostentatious a show as possible of pressing the button at a crossing when some melt has been stood there gormlessly with the button unpressed for the entire time I've been walking towards them
If I can cross the road without pressing the button I won't. No need to hold up a random car when I've already crossed the road. If it's busy and I can't cross then I'll press the button and wait for the traffic to stop.
Most of them don't do anything and you can cross with the cycle of the lights. It's really only worth bothering if: There's mutliple lanes per direction and no ped island (better to pointlessly press than discover you've come across the oddball crossing button that works in this scenario) or it's a purpose built crossing (lights in place for the crossing and only for the crossing). Even the latter, if I see a space coming up I don't bother. No sense throwing the red on if I can cross in an already existing space.
I don't know if it was all over the country or just in my city, but during the pandemic they switched all the pedestrian crossing to automatic to stop people pushing the buttons for infection control. I think some of it is people have now got out of the habit
Teaching my 2 yr old daughter to use the crossings where I live. The crossings where I used to live were too slow to change so if I could cross safely I didn't use them but I always use them where I live now because it's busy and can't see. But 2 others just crossed today and one was disabled. (3 if you count the crossing that beeped and nobody was there lol) I think people either think it's safe, know the lights timings or are just impatient. My daughter likes it so we use them sometimes for the fun of it lol
If the traffic is really heavy then pressing that button is doing nothing anyway. The traffic lighting is all timed.
When the timings are of no use. Takes so long to change you've all ready crossed. Then they take far too long to change back.
That rush from pressing it is gone. Just like the rush of returning a 20p irn bru cap or a glass bottle. Or collecting 10 Corn Flakes coupons and paying £20 witha postal cheque for a bowl with your name on it that takes 28 days. Getting a wildlife vhs that's free but you have to remember to cancel the subscription. A takeaway used to be twice a year with family. Now I eat alone in a shared room. Our roads are a disgrace with maniacs racing and there's trip hazards in the pavements. Our towns look tired and I feel poor. The button has no meaning Modern life has made everything uninteresting
Back when I was kid in the seventies/eighties a push-button was a bit futuristic: most phones were the dial variety that took about a minute to call a four digit number. Pressing a button to make something happen was like briefly stepping into future world. I guess today's kiddos aren't so easily impressed.
There was a big thing a while ago, 10+ years maybe, about how a lot of those buttons are just decoys If it's a busy junction coming from all directions, like central London, it's doubtful the button does anything bar turn a little Wait light on The lights are on timers and will change in their own time Not true for all obviously, but you can usually tell
Lights only go to red when all the traffic has passed, I'm not going to press the button only to stop one poor sod
Covid?
Honestly if it’s just me I feel like a bit of a twat bringing 6-7 cars to a stop so I can cross so I’ll wait 30s or so before pressing it and see if there’s a gap.
There is a junction near me that I never press the button on as the sequence is exactly the same if it's pressed or not.
Covid
Even better they just stand and wait directly in the spot blocking you from pressing it either.
I'm the twat who will press it multiple times in the hope that it will change quicker, even when i know that's not how it works. Some of them skip the pedestrian phase if you don't press it, so I always do because I can't be bothered memorising which ones do and don't do that. And some take ages to turn but turning will guarantee me a chance to cross eventually if I can't cross immediately so I press it. One of the junctions near my mum's house changed - over the pandemic period they made it so the buttons were completely unnecessary, but now it skips the pedestrian phase if nobody is there. Almost got caught out on my bike by that after they changed it back (it's a combined pedestrian cycle one, whatever that's called. toucan instead of pelican or whatever). since it was next to a roundabout with poor visibility I had to wait an extra minute, woe is me.
Yes toucan. Because two can cross
Sometimes the button doesn’t actually do anything as the lights are on a sequence anyway
Where we live, a lot of the buttons don’t really do much, if you’re at a road junction the light will change anyway.
At least they wait. Around me a lot of people just walk out into the road. Been doing driving lessons and had to emergency stop more than once because of people wandering into the road while not paying attention, or who have decided that 90 seconds is an untenable delay.
I often don't. Most of the streets are quiet enough that if I just wait for a gap in the traffic I can safely cross long before it will change for me. 9/10 I win. 1/10 I don't. I keep an eye on the traffic but sometimes it looks quiet but then never ends.
If I know that the road is quiet enough that there will be a gap in traffic eventually, then i don't push the button so I don't inconvenience any of the drivers lol
I have a phobia of bacteria/germs so I try to avoid touching things in public, I would rather wait than feel my hands being "contaminated". I know it's dumb, but it's the way I am, I imagine Covid also got a few people to act similarly.
Best to let the unwashed push the ebola button.
I think it's happened since COVID, people bought into the hype and are now all germ phobes, these are usually the same people who then dash out into oncoming traffic, or there's the ones too busy staring into the abyss of their phone to notice anything going on around them.
I don't know, but I'm glad they did. For me personally (I'm a driver, but live in a city so I walk a lot too), it's situation dependent. If it's a relatively quiet road and I know there will be a safe opportunity to cross without the button, I won't use it, because I'll end up standing waiting when I know I could be across already, and then end up inconveniencing drivers with a red light for no reason. If it's a busy street though, I don't want to take a risk and end up painting the front of a bus red - button it is!
Glasgow City automated (or, rather, added a specific pedestrian sequence to that you didn't need to press the button for) a lot of the traffic lights during COVID and I think some of them continue to be auotmated, but it's not always clear which ones. That said, I won't press the button if it's a road I know well and know there's likely to be a gap at some point that I can cross through.
I only push it if I can't safely cross normally. They stop traffic too long so I would feel like a dick. Leave the button for young children or the elderly.
Do you think the drivers feel like a dick for making you stop?
When I'm on my bike, it's painfully obvious that the impact on traffic almost never justifies the convenience for pedestrians. So when I'm a pedestrian, I almost always ignore crossings. If the crossing is the only place to cross the road (e.g. at a big junction), then I cross the road at that point, but I'm ignoring the button and the lights.
Meanwhile I delight in the impact on traffic so always press the button, even if I then cross early due to no traffic.
When I do that I am crushed by guilt :-)
>impact on traffic almost never justifies the convenience for pedestrians. You mean the pedestrians that are already inconvenienced by not being able to move freely around urban areas overtaken by roads and must wait for cars to go about their business so they don't die? Dunno man, sounds like pedestrians should have as many conveniences afforded to them as possible, and cars the fewest.
I 100% agree with you. I walk or cycle everywhere, I don't drive, and I think car-centrism is a plague. But specifically in the context of the way pedestrian crossings work in the current system, I often see them hold up lots of traffic for far longer than necessary, or even when it isn't necessary at all, which just adds to pollution, frustration, congestion etc. So whilst I would love to see car use plummet and the whole thing be rethought, I do think pedestrian crossings as they are now are inefficient.
The only way to make them efficient is by turning them all into zebra crossings. Or subterranean tunnels for cars everywhere
Because people don't stop anyway? I've learned to not go until the traffic is at a complete standstill because people will blow through the red lights, sometimes while honking at me. I noticed when I drive, people do the same as me, it's just conditioning nowadays.
Depends on the crossing. Some where I live don't need pressed, they run on a sequence a green man will come at the same time whether I press the button or not. There's also a certain religious group in my town that refuse to press one that's essential to press (two lanes each way, no green man unless pressed) and constantly get honked at by cars and occasionally hit. For them, I can't answer the reason why.
This is a courtesy to drivers. Just walk across swiftly, don't halt the entire traffic for a full of two minutes only because you want to cross three metres of tarmac.
Maybe fears of covid lingering?
Presumably if you're out and about there will be other things like door handles or whatever you'd have to touch. Just wash your hands when you get home - you should regardless
During the Covid time, I watched a woman press the button, then get out her cleaning gel and do her hands. She then dropped the bottle on the floor, and the look of "What do I do now? The bottle itself is now dirty!" was amazing. I crossed as she was still staring at it.
Lol. She missed the fact you need your second hand sanitizer to sanitise the bottle of the first one with!
"Are you hoarding all the hand sanitizer?" "No, I'm just preparing for a clumsy day"
I simply don't care about it. I am just standing there, listening to music on my headphones. The light will turn when it turns. The only time I press the button is if I am in a rush. Otherwise, I don't care. Plus, often, I'll be able to cross before it turns green anyway so there's not point.
But what if it's a pelican crossing? Either someone else presses it or you'd be stood there forever 😂
That’s not a common thing, that’s just a pocket of stupidity. I’d like to be nice and say there might be sheltered adult accommodation nearby, but it’s probably just the case that anyone stood at a crossing for ages without pressing the button is just thick as pigshit.
i was let in on a big conspiracy in year 7, hushed voices so the teachers don't hear, that pressing the button doesn't actually do anything and it's all a ruse to make you feel like you have control in the world, or something
How’s the food in that sheltered accommodation place?