This isn’t all stop lights. At many lights the button doesn’t do anything. But at some of them you do have to press the button. What is the purpose of making you press the button?
For crossing a wide road, the normal green light may not be long enough for a pedestrian to safely cross, so the pedestrian indicator doesn’t go to walk on a normal cycle. Pushing that button makes the parallel green last longer, and activates the pedestrian indicator.
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