Pedestrian button - do you press?

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I always press the pedestrian button - in particular one place where I park when I commute to work is heavily trafficked. It has four lanes of traffic (2 on each side) and people drive fast (even though there is a good amount of foot traffic). So I press. I wait for the traffic light for the walk and I walk across. The pedestrian button works nicely.

However, I noticed as I get into Boston the pedestrian light doesn't work nicely. I still press what the heck --even when the walk light goes on though you need to watch as cars that are turning do not yield to pedestrians even though there is a nice sign reminding them to do so - well why would they as I have witnessed police cars ignoring this yield to pedestrians as well.

Any way I know learn there is no need to press in Boston...

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/07/24/ahead-and-press-that-pedestrian-button-makes-you-feel-good/1krGOm2CfeZBvIkEkNm5rL/story.html?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter

Then why do they these buttons?

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Type: Question • Score: 10 • Views: 1,149 • Replies: 35

@Linkat,

i will press for some intersections downtown, because some of them skip the Walk if you don't.

for others there is no need to press because you will get the Walk every single time in the same pattern.

there is a nice intersection in Newton (near a church and a school) where you get to walk right away after you press...

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@Region Philbis,

Yeah the one where I park works - you NEED to press it to get the walk signal. So many people I see just walk across the four lanes when there is a break rather than wait for the light to change. The cars drive way too fast on this rode - I wait.

But as I get into Boston, the signals just automatically change without pressing. Sometimes I still press even though I know it has no impact - maybe just to hear the light say "WAIT!"

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@Linkat,

Some of us press the button, but most of us just jaywalk anyway. I sometimes feel a little bad for jaywalking after pushing the walk button, but heck... if there is a break in the traffic, I am going.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

someone who hasn't quite gotten to the intersection will benefit from the button-press...

1 Reply

@Region Philbis,

we have some that add time to the green light if the pedestrian button is pushed. you'll get the signal plus an extra 5 - 10 seconds. worth it if you have kids or seniors or anyone with a mobility problem with you.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

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@Region Philbis,

It's been quite a while since I pressed one of those button thingies. I'm a long time city walker (Los Angeles + environs, the north coast towns of California, a good trip to New York City, cities in Italy, especially Rome). I remember ten mile days.

Older now, so it goes, I find it hard to cross Cours Boulevard, even running. So life now is more circumspect.

Back to Rome, which I like to talk about - I've been there three times, but in those three times, it's more like nine or ten times within those trips. Each time, on the first day there, I've had to gird my loins to walk across the main streets, always following italians as close as I could. They know car dodging...
By the second day back, each time, I was used to it. One adapts.

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Buttons? What buttons? Have I been walking around for decades and missed buttons?

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In Tomball I press them because I walk slow and the street is wide. Otherwise the walk light does not kick in.

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@Roberta,

These sort of buttons.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02209/crossing_2209318b.jpg

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@izzythepush,

Thanks. If there are buttons like these in NYC, I haven't seen them. And I've never pressed one. What does it do?

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@izzythepush,

Yes exactly

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@Roberta,

It will prompt the light to change to red for cars and green with the little walking guy so a pedestrian can cross the street.

New York may be like within the city of Boston - where there are so many pedestrian it just automatically changes without the press of the button. The funny thing is within the city of Boston there is a button to press. So I have been pressing (although I did realize it doesn't seem to impact the timing of the light changing allowing me to cross - just says "WAIT!" and then will say "WALK!" when the light allows for pedestrians to walk.

Just saw this article that says that the buttons are not activated in Boston - then why the heck do you have buttons!

Elsewhere - in smaller cities or towns - the buttons will activate the walk light.

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@Linkat,

some buttons still work, so the blanket generalization in these articles is false...

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@Region Philbis,

Region Philbis wrote:

some buttons still work, so the blanket generalization in these articles is false...

more proof in regards to "fake news"

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@Region Philbis,

The button near my house definitively works (a suburb a little north of Boston). The light cycle skips the walk stage if the walk button is not pressed. My daughter and I experimented with it.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

Same south of Boston. It seems this is a Boston city phenomena but apparently not all Boston lights. No wonder there is so much jay walking

1 Reply

@Linkat,

the intersections of Summer + Dorchester and Congress + Dorchester have buttons that still work...

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@Roberta,

https://untappedcities-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/2-crosswalk-buttons-cities-101-nyc-untapped-cities-wesley-yiin.jpg

this is one of the NYC variants

they're around. We used them when we stayed near Lexington and 81st.

2 Replies

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