I believe it's on record somewhere that it varies from crossing to crossing (and for some of them even by time of day). If it's a crossing on a single road, pressing the button has an impact; if it's a junction, at rush hour, the lights are just on a timed sequence anyway.
Unrelated but I now get a pang of fear every time I see a post of famous person in front of podcast mic, fully expecting them to say something problematic. So glad to open this up and it’s about traffic lights
The clip has triggered a memory from the theory test, think he's talking about a subset of standard t or x junction traffic lights, they're mostly on a programme to help traffic flow. But the pelican & toucan crossings in the middle of streets are more button controlled. Maybe my dullest tweet
It does in our city, and it's wild. I timed it, just standing there waiting for the light to change vs pressing the button. The walk signal came up significantly faster.
I worked this out when I moved to a house right next to a crossing. They go red in sequence all day and the green man comes up - whether anyone is there or not.
The WAIT sign is the only thing affected by pressing the button.
I am 42 yrs old.
I felt like a genius and a fool at the same time.
Comments
Yeah, felt like bullshit. Turns out it's mostly untrue (but true some places, some of the time)
Because he goes on to say “a pelican crossing, maybe”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewinkless/2017/10/27/does-pushing-the-button-at-a-crossing-actually-do-anything/
The WAIT sign is the only thing affected by pressing the button.
I am 42 yrs old.
I felt like a genius and a fool at the same time.