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A Code To Speed Up Pedestrian Crossing Lights

L

llkit

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Aug 18, 2002
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My partner is insistant that if you press the button at a pedestrian crossing in a certain sequence, the lights will change straight away.

He believes he was told this at some boy scout thing when he was a kid, and has believed it ever since (though it has never worked once when i've been with him!).

Apparently he was told that the special sequence was so Police and other services could cross the road more quickly in the case of an emergency!

Does anyone have any background information to this?
 
A sequence of button pressing seems a bit unsophisticated for the emergency services.
 
Is this why some pedestrians insist on pressing the button, even though the light is plainly already at "wait"? Do they think the light is on for a joke and pressing the button again will snap the pelican crossing out of it? Or do they expect the light to get even brighter?
 
gncxx said:
Is this why some pedestrians insist on pressing the button, even though the light is plainly already at "wait"? Do they think the light is on for a joke and pressing the button again will snap the pelican crossing out of it? Or do they expect the light to get even brighter?
Click to expand...

No, we are fantasising that every time we press the button a small but lethal device explodes under the seat of drivers who ignore red lights at pedestrian crossings completely, or start revving their engine when you're halfway across, or clip some old biddy's shopping bag because they can't wait for her to hobble all the way across, or look daggers at you because you have added twenty seconds to their drive which is obviously far more important than your own journey, or don't bother indicating because obviously pedestrians don't need to know where they're going, or...etc
 
Did you know that under the box with the button on at pedestrian crossings is a small knob (no smutty jokes please) the spins when the lights change. This is for blind people at crossings that do not have beeps!
I usually spin this knob and feel that it makes the lights change quicker but I 'm not sure.
 
The council put a new pedestrian crossing on my road - about time since it's long been used as a race track! No one has told them that one push of the button and the lights change almost immediately!
The idea of tapping the button came about not from some code but the belief that the computer will imagine that each press is one pedestrian and that if the computers "sees" a crowd of pedestrians, it'll change the lights.

I should imagine that the police/emergency services could stop the traffic without the use of lights in an urgent situation. I can't see a copper chasing a villain waiting for the lights to change while the crook legs it away!
 
Stormkhan said:
No one has told them that one push of the button and the lights change almost immediately!
Click to expand...
There's one near me like that, which crosses one half of a dual carriageway: on the other side, however, the lights take an inordinate amount of time to change. You can actually while away half an afternoon on the central reservation (alright, slight exaggeration, but I've certainly waited long enough to hear an entire tune on my MP3 player before the green man appeared before now). Doesn't matter how often you hit the button, swear at it etc.

I used to think it was to do with the fact that that side of the road is a bit busier in general, so traffic sensors came into play (it's the main A4), but it doesn't matter what time of the day or night, or how much traffic there is, they take the same time regardless.
 
No, we are fantasising that every time we press the button a small but lethal device explodes under the seat of drivers who ignore red lights at pedestrian crossings completely, or start revving their engine when you're halfway across, or clip some old biddy's shopping bag because they can't wait for her to hobble all the way across, or look daggers at you because you have added twenty seconds to their drive which is obviously far more important than your own journey, or don't bother indicating because obviously pedestrians don't need to know where they're going, or...etc
Click to expand...

Ha, well said!
 
I used to think it was to do with the fact that that side of the road is a bit busier in general, so traffic sensors came into play (it's the main A4), but it doesn't matter what time of the day or night, or how much traffic there is, they take the same time regardless.
Click to expand...

I thought traffic lights were timed to a degree. If the button hasn't been pressed for a while, pressing it will pretty much turn the lights straight away. Alternitively if the crossing is being used pretty much continuosly there will be a longer gap between red/green light changes.

EDIT; Maybe this only applys for non main roads?
 
thanks for the feedback, i can merrily take the mickey now
 
But I still 'tickle' the button under the big yellow box - since being told that, I've made a point of looking for the "twisty for the blind" button. I'm really surprised that it isn't better known. It shows good (for once) urban planning for the disabled.
 
Another urban legend is that when you pull up at temporary traffic lights at roadworks, flashing your headlights triggers the detector to change the lights to green immediately. Or attracts the attention of the traffic light angels, one of the two.
I was told this and can honestly say it works sometimes. Ish.
 
I work for one of the emergency services and have never heard of this at all, we generally just park our great big ambulance in the middle of the road with blue lights flashing, this is generally enough to stop all traffic, mainly because all they want to do is rubberneck at what has happened to the poor unfortunate person you are dealing with.
 
I can't see why the police, emergency services, etc. would need any sort of code. All they'd have to do would be to wave down any oncoming traffic, rather than hang about using the crossing in any way. I doubt any drivers would ignore them doing this.
 
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