There are plenty of intersections where a walk signal comes on automatically, why do some intersections require a button push to initiate the walk signal when it doesn’t seem to make a difference in light timing or duration?
In: Engineering
We studied this in school.
Sometimes you give people a thing to do to make them feel better about the wait. A classic example of this was putting mirrors in front of elevators instead of bothering to make them faster because people spent the wait adjusting and people watching. Or putting cell towers near trains so people stopped caring how long the ride was.
You put a button for people to press so they feel like they’ve taken an action. Often they don’t do anything and aren’t hooked up.
As for why have them require a button vs. on a cycle? Likely how it changes driver patterns and traffic prioritization. You might notice busier streets don’t always have the walk signs go on automatically when people would otherwise be turning off that main road. Priority in that moment might be getting people off the road to not block traffic.
Another answer might simply be cost. There’s nothing saying it can’t all be automated with machine vision now. But cost becomes a factor and sometimes a simple button is cheapest.
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