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Does Pushing The Button At A Crossing Actually Do Anything?
Forbes ^ | 10/27/2017 | Laurie Winkless

Posted on 10/07/2025 2:51:40 PM PDT by Omnivore-Dan

If you’ve ever wondered what power you really wield as a pedestrian in a busy city, read on…

City life involves a lot of waiting – in queues in the supermarket, on platforms for trains and buses, at red lights in your car or bike, or in lobbies for elevators. But as I see it, time never moves as soul-crushingly slowly as it does when you’re waiting to cross a busy road.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: secretcode; trafficpushbutton
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To: Omnivore-Dan
Does Pushing The Button At A Crossing Actually Do Anything?

Yes. It's the ultimate aphrodisiac!

41 posted on 10/07/2025 4:00:02 PM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
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To: Omnivore-Dan

Does Pushing The Button At A Crossing Actually Do Anything?

It sure does, it’s gets ya all kinds of nasty cooties. Those buttons are crawling with cooties! Touching something everyone in public touches is big no bueno!


42 posted on 10/07/2025 4:12:50 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Omnivore-Dan; Hatteras; sauropod; MayflowerMadam
There’s one more city that’s worth mentioning. A 2004 New York Times article revealed that “More than 2,500 of the 3,250 walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos.”
43 posted on 10/07/2025 4:13:54 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: Omnivore-Dan

It just records your fingerprint and matches it to the pic they take of you from the intersection camera.


44 posted on 10/07/2025 4:39:56 PM PDT by fruser1
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To: Disambiguator

They work just like red light/speeding cameras then. :)


45 posted on 10/07/2025 5:20:17 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Omnivore-Dan

They always seem to work well enough. You push them to get the walk signal, not to make the light change any faster. I’ve also seen them at places where there is no intersection, and pushing them causes a traffic light to stop traffic to let you cross.

I think that maybe people who don’t think the button works have never been at an intersection where they are the only person waiting to cross the street. Usually, every person who comes to the corner pushes the button.


46 posted on 10/07/2025 5:29:47 PM PDT by exDemMom (Dr. exDemMom, infectious disease and vaccines research specialist.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Thanks. I was surprised at some of the comments and thought most people sort of knew this stuff.

There was a nice video i saw on youtube that explained how cameras at intersections affect red light triggering. Cars that overshot the red light and stuck out in the intersection did themselves no favors and best place to stop is right before the intersection to trigger the logic.

Most people think the cameras are there to generate tickets but often they are there for automated traffic control.


47 posted on 10/07/2025 5:33:41 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: Omnivore-Dan
Whenever I push it, someone else will push it harder, because apparently I didn't do it right.

48 posted on 10/07/2025 5:35:05 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty)
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To: Omnivore-Dan

Not many pedestrians here in the suburbs. But we do have 4 to 6 lane roads with lots of traffic. And I noticed, when I don’t push the button, the “walk” light never appears.


49 posted on 10/07/2025 5:38:50 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
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To: rlmorel

Drive through big cities like LA, and ya get 400 pounders sashaying across the intersections like they own it, moving so slow the lights turn green and they’re still only half way across as they glare and mean mug the cars at pole position. They’re all looking for big pay days.


50 posted on 10/07/2025 5:42:52 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: DoodleBob

They actually used the word “placebo”!?

I’ve been saying that for at least 30 years!


51 posted on 10/07/2025 5:43:34 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: MayflowerMadam

Maybe someone at the NYT heard you say it at a restaurant and copped it.


52 posted on 10/07/2025 5:58:10 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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To: Omnivore-Dan

I have had them talk back when I press more than once.

Something like, ‘One press is sufficient’


53 posted on 10/07/2025 6:01:59 PM PDT by Scrambler Bob (Running Rampant, and not endorsing nonsense; My pronoun is EXIT. And I am generally full of /S)
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To: Omnivore-Dan

Yes, it actually does something... Sheesh.


54 posted on 10/07/2025 6:13:04 PM PDT by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man, but it's ok---- I wasn't married to it.)
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To: DoodleBob

I believe that.

The buttons in my town and they do work at certain points in the traffic light cycling.


55 posted on 10/07/2025 6:32:51 PM PDT by sauropod
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To: ConservativeDude

Just like an elevator!


56 posted on 10/07/2025 6:48:53 PM PDT by GMThrust
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To: DoodleBob

LOL! But probably not, since I’ve never been in NYC,


57 posted on 10/07/2025 6:54:43 PM PDT by MayflowerMadam (It's hard not to celebrate the fall of bad people. - Bongino)
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To: exDemMom
I’ve also seen them at places where there is no intersection, and pushing them causes a traffic light to stop traffic to let you cross.

What I always see with those is that the pedestrian pushes the button and then jaywalks before the light changes. Then there are a whole bunch of cars waiting at an empty crosswalk. Such pedestrians should be hanged from the nearest lamppost.

58 posted on 10/07/2025 7:05:45 PM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: butlerweave

The one I used today said “Push button or wave at button”

Waving actually worked. I felt mighty stupid and the people driving by were giving me weird looks.


59 posted on 10/07/2025 7:09:23 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Omnivore-Dan; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; ...

Nope. It’s just a button with a spring behind it. They’re found at crosswalks on very busy streets. Giving people a sense of control and something to do helps cut down on pedestrians getting flattened.


60 posted on 10/07/2025 8:08:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpin' -- it's not just for DNC shills anymore -- oh, wait, yeah it is.)
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