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Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
51–60 of 68 posts
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#52I think there's a good reason to have buttons that do nothing: it improves usability. Imagine teaching a child how to cross the road. The instructions are: 1) press the button 2) wait for green man 3) cross Now imagine we took away the buttons that do nothing. Now you need two cases, or branching: look for button; if button is present, press it; otherwise just wait - then cross. Obviously this is still trivial but ra…
Plus less mental burden for everyone. You get to a light, you press the button. No need to wonder if there is going to be a button or not, no need to have to look all around - in case the button was hiding somewhere else.. The button is there..press it.
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#53The most fascinating part of this for me is that people _actually_ pay attention to the green and red men at crossings, and even to crossings at all. I mean, sure, where I live children or older people who can't walk very fast wait for the green man but most regular folks just go and cross where and when they please. I believe in Paris all of these are entirely automatic ; though there are buttons that are here to he…
Washington, DC, has many signals that have a countdown. Usually I figure on 3 seconds per lane at a moderate walking pace. Other times I will use my knowledge of how long the don't walk signal lasts before the crossing traffic gets the green light; if I don't know the intersection well, I won't cross on a don't walk.
All this of course assumes that there is traffic on the street I want to cross, which is true for most times of day, most places I walk.
Crossing against or without lights seems to depend very much on culture. In some parts of the US it is unremarkable, in others it is looked down on.
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#54There's some next-level traffic light voodoo I often see people attempting in the UK, which is repeatedly pressing the button. I like the idea that it's a democratic process: only when pedestrians outnumber cars will the lights change.
People go a bit further in Australia. I've heard many different peoples stories of timing (you push it and hold for 7 seconds) or repetition (12 presses and it'll change right now). Complete nonsense of course, but it's amusing how far positive reenforcement can get a story.
This reminds me of Skinner's superstitious pigeons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner#Superstitious_Pig...
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#55If a traffic light is dumb (and most are) and the government wants to optimize traffic flow, then a button that disrupts the timing will mess up the traffic flow. An intelligent light controller might be able to include the random changes and still optimize the flow. Sadly very few light controllers are smart enough to do this.
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#56For me the most interesting piece in that article was the image of a crossing where pedestrians can actually walk _across_ the crossing (like, diagonally) instead of just a single street. Haven't seen those anywhere here and I assume those are actually kind of nasty for car traffic (since .. all directions need to stop). Fascinating :)
Obligatory Shibuya video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVXuN28Ismk
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#57For me the most interesting piece in that article was the image of a crossing where pedestrians can actually walk _across_ the crossing (like, diagonally) instead of just a single street. Haven't seen those anywhere here and I assume those are actually kind of nasty for car traffic (since .. all directions need to stop). Fascinating :)
Edinburgh uses them quite a bit. The problem is that these mean a different way of traffic flow. Usually, you do asynchronous switching, meaning all in one direction, then all in the other etc. Here however, you have to switch differently. All directions pedestrians → Car direction 1 → Car direction 2 (or have loads of cars that want to turn block each other in the middle of a junction.)
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
People go a bit further in Australia. I've heard many different peoples stories of timing (you push it and hold for 7 seconds) or repetition (12 presses and it'll change right now). Complete nonsense of course, but it's amusing how far positive reenforcement can get a story.
This reminds me of Skinner's superstitious pigeons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner#Superstitious_Pig...
That was a very good read, thanks!
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#59Often in Australia, pressing the button makes the pedestrian light go green. But it has no effect on signal order (it goes green when cars traveling in the same direction get a green light). What's the point of making us press a button in this case? Why not give pedestrians a green light automatically? Even more obnoxious are intersections where the pedestrian light times out from green to red, but cars still have a…
It seems traffic planners don't care about pedestrians. You got that right. I walk 4+ miles/day on city streets and I've noticed a steady erosion of rules designed to make pedestrian life safer and easier. What you mentioned above and this: In addition to lights which are timed to not give a "go" signal to pedestrians unless they push the button, I've run across one that will make you wait until the next cycle unless…
> trending in my city: buildings which sit directly on streets with parking lots that empty onto streets having their own lights, have separate lights for pedestrians to regulate them while on the sidewalk
The Hilton in downtown Philadelphia has one of these. Fortunately there's also an audio cue. Unfortunately, you're on a ten foot wide sidewalk and certainly aren't expecting the beeper to be about you. It's a recipie for squashed pedestrian.
Re: Does pressing the pedestrian crossing button actually do anything?
#60In Amsterdam, it activates the clicking sound for blind people. Very convenient if you're blind, I presume (I've never been blind for long enough to give it a try).