For expecting people standing at pelican crossings to have pressed the button?

[hopsalong]

This keeps happening to me. Arrive at a pelican/ puffin crossing where two or three people (or more) are already waiting on my side. Stand behind them assuming (as surely always used to be the case!) that they have pressed the button and the lights are about to change. Look at my phone.

Time passes.

The lights never change. They seem unconcerned by this. They look at their phones.

Sometimes I say loudly 'oh dear me, did no one think to press the button' in a middle-aged way.
Usually I edge over and press it.

Is not touching the button a post-Covid thing?
And what happens to these people if a button jabber doesn't show up?!

Cross post @poppypetal

Yes, there's one like that near us! It's really annoying.

We noticed some crossing that had those sensor things in London the other day, so you had to hold your palm near but you didn't have to touch them.

I get annoyed by this too! Particularly when they are stood right next to the button and you can’t really press it without getting in their personal space

I lean over, press the button and announce loudly "it works better when you press the button" I am a bit of a Karen. I also wait until the green man flashes even if there is no traffic, if there are children waiting to cross. My youngest used to shout at people who crossed on the red man, wonder where she got that from?

Pressing the button on the one near us just lights up 'don't cross', it is linked with near by traffic lights. The one on holiday in Beaumaris though stops the traffic almost immediately when pressed.

I get that rage when people re press the bus bell. On London buses ( I don’t know about other places) a sign lights up, BUS STOPPING, so there is no need, repeat, no need to re ding the bell. It’s just as well I am not a bus driver, I would be sacked the first morning for customer abuse over overuse of my bell.

The flashing green man indicates that you may continue crossing if you have started but you shouldn't wait for it before starting to cross -

www.ageas.co.uk/solved/road-safety/guide-to-pedestrian-crossings/

I think my default must be to assume the worst of people, so I will always press it again, regardless.

Yes!! I have at times said Don't worry I shall press the button!

Why they want to waste their time I don't know.

That's different, it makes a ding and pisses off the driver.

Worse still the people who lean on the button with their headphones in so are oblivious to their repeating digging.

I lean over, press the button and announce loudly "it works better when you press the button" I am a bit of a Karen.

I'd probably mutter 'fuck off' under my breath if you leaned over me to do that. A polite 'have you pressed the button' would be fine.

Karen is a horrible thing to call anyone, let alone yourself. Have some pride!

Agreed. Unless their name is actually Karen please don't do the Karen thing.

A lot of them are placebo buttons.

I push the buttons at places where I don’t know the crossing well or where I know it has an impact but I would never press the button at the crossing just outside my work. The phases take forever and the button does absolutely nothing. It changes at set intervals regardless of whether anyone presses the button or not.

if someone leaned over me and told me “it works better when you push the button” I would just have a bit of an inward snigger. I do hours of gate duty every week stood by that crossing so know with absolute certainty that it’s a placebo and the button is only there to give people the illusion of control.

I lean over, press the button and announce loudly "it works better when you press the button"

"Oh, I wasn't waiting to cross, I'm just loitering here."

They'd find themselves miles away if they tried that in London - if it stops at all without a ding at least 100 yards from the stop, if you aren't at the door the instant it opens or in the constant stream leaving the bus, those doors are closing and the bus is leaving whether you like it or not.

The button at junctions doesn't do anything. It only does anything if there are zig zag markings leading up to the crossing.

At my closest junction, there is no pedestrian phase unless a button is pressed. The lights try to stay green for main road traffic 90% of the time, so you have a very long wait if you miss your chance. (Pedestrians can only cross when all directions of traffic are stopped, because when the main road traffic is stopped the cross-road traffic will be turning into the main road, so you can't cross then either.)

What a waste of buttons!

It funny, this never happens when you have children in tow 🤣

I've been glared at a few times when I've pressed the button and a nearby child wanted to do it.

The junction ones I know cycle anyway, it must be location-dependent.

Report it to the council, they have a sensor to notice if the person waiting has left the crossing area. If that's not adjusted right it might think you've left when you are actually still there. The council will check and fix it.

I remember once I used to cycle past a crossing that never seemed to change for pedestrians until a minute or two passed, even when the traffic was light or stationary or it hadn't been pressed for ages. Very slow, but it suited me as a cyclist as I could nip past.
Fast forward a year and I move house so actually used the crossing, and I reported to the council. The next day they were looking at the equipment, and a couple of weeks later they replaced most of the gubbins, and after that it used to change instantly, except if it had only just changed back to green for the cars. Saved me a couple of minutes every day.

Genius! That's why the crossing in our high street seems to 'turn off' when you know you'd press the button. I was standing there like a lemon in the rain last week, having pressed the button, wondering why the damn thing was taking so long. Looked at the button and the light had gone out. Now I know.

I've had this happen a few times. I send in my 4yo to push it. DC has no shame and is happy barging between people to reach the button. Gives me the chance to say loudly "Oh no one's pushed the button yet! No wonder the cars aren't stopping".