About pressing the button at crossings!

[Melysia]

Hello all, I don't often write anything on here just browse but one thing has been pissing me off for ages. I want others opinions or rather some fellow ranters!

Just to say that I swear...a lot..so if your of a nervous disposition, which I doubt most of you are at this time of night, then don't read!

The basis of my rant is this.

Your stood at the lights ready to cross the road. You press the button to cross, the little lights around the button light up, indicating that you've pressed the button. Some fucker either on the other side or on the same side, which happened to me the other day, comes along and presses the sodding button.

Ok, it's really petty, but it's happened so many times I'm starting to seeth and get anxious when the effing person comes along and presses the button.

What the fuck do they think you've been waiting for?

"Hey nob sock, I'm not counting cars, I'm waiting to cross the fucking road".

The straw that broke..no scrap that...the wrecking ball that obliterated the camel and smashed through the whole of the fucking sahara was when I was stood right next to the button the other day. Some bloody school girl comes along right next to me and looks right in my face and presses the button. OH MY GOD, I could have gone all drunken master on that girl. What's wrong with people? Why do you have to press the button, leave it alone. It's been pressed, just look at it. It's lit up like a fucking light house. The lights don't change any quicker just wait like anyone else.

yabu
really

I have a little fantasy that if the button is pressed often enough someone somewhere in Traffic Control Land will sit up and think "Blimey - that button's being pushed a lot. We need to tweak the timings and remember that a pedestrian's need to cross the road is as important as a motorist's need to drive along the road. Strangely, they get button-happy when they're stood at the side of the road for ages". So I press buttons, regardless.

Where I live the little light that indicates that you pressed it goes off

also I think there may be some kind of motion dectector calculating how many people are waiting for the light to change -- so the more people there or who press the more frequently the light changes.

This is in London.

Worse are the people that press it multiple times, really fast, themselves.

My nephew (when aged 8) told me that under some of the pedestrian crossing button boxes there is a twiddly thing that if you twiddle it it makes the lights change faster. I admit I have twiddled despite poo-pooing his idea at the time.

Would love to see your incandescent rage OP if you'd pressed the button, waited and then someone came along and twiddled the thing underneath and stopped the lights immediately!

Mel, you need something else to worry about.

Actually I have a converse complaint to this (although it benefits me because I get to push the buttons) - my local tube station has lifts that clearly state they will not operate unless the button is pushed. The number of gormless people who stand there waiting for the lift to magically appear always gets my goat so I am afraid I do just what Cervix hates when that happens. People even get into the lift (admittedly there's only one stop but you still need to press the button to close the doors) and then just wait for the lift to do their bidding telepathically far outweighs the annoying button pushing nabbers such as myself.

The other day I was at a crossing, had pressed the button and was waiting. A young man came over and stood holding down the button. Why?! It really frustrated me. I gave him a very dirty look, but he didn't notice me looking at him .

Wheezo I think those rotating things are to let someone who is blind know when to cross.
OP YANBU!

Outside Liverpool street station everybody seems to think the lights change by themselves. I have seen 10 people standing there and nobody had pushed the button. It used to happen day in day out.

Wheezing
The thirdly thing is for blind people to tell when they can cross the road. It's used when there are two crossings close together and a beeper would be confusing.

Hassled I like your thinking; what a vivid imagination you have .

Now see I hate HATE hate people who don't press the button. At the nearest roundabout, over a dual carriageway, the crossing stopping cars entering the roundabout goes off automatically- the other side only ever goes off if the button is pressed. I hate those irritating people that don't realise this, see the little green man there on the first part and cross without pressing the button. The second part will never go stop if you don't press the button! How dare they not know this.

Also I know the sequence the lights turn- when traffic lane A stops, set of lights C go green. So if someone doesn't press that button you have to wait through the whole routine!

I'd say I need to get out more but I think perhaps I get out too much!

Oh and the little spinny thing underneath is for blind/partially sighted people. My 4 year old is obsessed with reaching for it but all I think is gross, I bet people have stuck gum under there yuck yuck.

I really can't remember if I have seen one or dreamed one that gives you a countdown for when you will get the green man, do they exist?

I've also just decided I hate the crossings that don't beep so you don't notice they've turned. And the ones with the little green man on the pole next to you not on top of the pole over the road. Never notice they turn.

Oh and I hate the ones that beep, bloody annoying they are.

In Paris they just turn automatically, no buttons there. French DP stood for ages at a crossing till I told him. Wasn't been mean, I didn't know he didn't know!

I can't go past a button with my charge without her needing to press it. She starts full on sobbing and saying "Geen Man, Geen man, GREEN MAN!" if I don't let her press the button, she's only 17mo

So YABU

I thought this was going to be about people who press the button and then cross anyway... without waiting for the green man!

Or drivers who stop at the crossing after you've pressed the button and try and wave you across the road into oncoming traffic, like killing you is doing you some kind of favour.

Both of which annoy me intensely. I was all happy, thinking, oooh yay! It's not just me after all! Turns out it is.

BigHairy: The people who stop and wave you across piss me off too. My older charges just don't seem to understand that it's not safe even if they do wave for you to cross. Idiots. (the drivers, not my charges).

The people who just run across the crossing without waiting for the man piss me off too

Oh no please don't tell me I've been ruining crossing things for blind people - what do they do? do the twiddly things vibrate to let them know to cross? I just thought they were a bolted part of the crossing button box.

oddboots Isn't that New York or other forrin parts? I'm not sure I've ever seen one of those in the UK?

I have to press the button lots of times.... it's a thing. Doesn't matter, if it has been pressed or not.

I also hate it at pelican crossings when cars keep at the same speed then stop suddenly. I never know if they are going to stop! Then they look annoyed at you if you wait till they have stopped completely. More than once while waiting for cars to stop they kind of slow then keep going. A bit scary!

The twiddly thing starts turning when the lights change Wheezo

YABU. I enjoy pressing buttons.