Why do non-pedestrian controlled crossings need the button pushed?

Question

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

Answer 1

The buttons on most crosswalks don’t actually do anything except make the pedestrians feel like they are in control.  It doesn’t change the timing because it was never meant to.