It’s surprising that some people haven’t figured out the crosswalk buttons. They don’t make the lights change and they don’t speed them up. They only make the opposite side ‘tweet’. Please for the love of god stop pushing them, they’re to help the visually impaired, not save your time. Props to HRM for installing these without really letting anyone know what they do.
— cptstubing
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
Actually, there are several intersections in HRM that are now controlled by the buttons. Case in point: in Dartmouth at the corner of Alderney and Ochterloney. If you don’t press the buttons to cross Alderney, the Walk signal doesn’t activate. When the light turns green, the crosswalk signal indicates not to cross.
Same thing on Robie at Veteran’s Memorial Drive…
Same thing on Robie at Veteran’s Memorial Drive…
That’s completely incorrect, OP. Besides the intersection of Alderney and Octerlohney in Dartmouth and Robie at Veteran’s, there are many others in the HRM that are dependent on the button.
Check your facts or don’t post anything.
The OP is a Dumb-ass.
Actually, many of them don’t even make the “tweet” sound. Case in point, every single one in Bayers Lake, where the walk light will not come if you don’t push the button.
The buttons are an obvious waste of money and a triumph of idiocy over common sense; just have the walk light green and make its “tweet” chime when the traffic light is green. Too easy. Meantime the traffic guru can shove the buttons where… you know.
Lovehatehalifax, you are a fucking idiot. As everyone has just said, many of these buttons DO alter the lights, so you don’t have to stand there like a moron unnecessarily. I actually took a course in school where we learned how to design such a system. It’s the same principal as the buried wires that get tripped when vehicles drive over them. I suppose those are an urban legend as well?
Besides that, they prevent accidents at intersections with advance green lights which give traffic the right of way, but not pedestrians. Even someone with great common sense can be easily caught in a bad situation – I know it’s happened to me.
And above all, they are there for the benefit of visually impaired people so that they can feel safe crossing busy streets.
You’re obviously one of those lazy fucks who drives everywhere, regardless of the distance, scowling in disbelief at us mere pedestrians. People like you are completely oblivious to the challenges and subtleties that take place when you try to navigate a vehicle infested environment on foot. Go fuck yourself.
Word to Mr. Man – although I would word it less harshly. But fuck. Those lights DO control many intersections, but I feel their existence is ultimately pointless. For example, there is one walkway in particular where I used to hit the lights to highlight a pedestrian walkway at Cornwallis and Gottingen. The thing is that every car ignores them. Now I just jaywalk. Fuck that noise.
Sarah1984,
Bayers Lake is a terrible example. Do you think they had pedestrians in mind when they designed it? Fuck Bayers Lake, its a ecological disaster and built for only the vechicle.
Robie and Spring Garden are not dependant on them. That is actually the only one I know of. Sorry.
But for fuck sakes, who the FUCK needs to push a button and wait for a light to tell them when to cross? NOBODY on this site. Cross the old fashioned way, look both ways, when no cars are coming, go.
And pulling the handle on your toilet does nothing but produce the noise!
It doesn’t control the water!
I will honestly push the button, if I want to push the goddamned button, thank you!
Maybe some people don’t have time to sit and wait around all day for “no cars to be coming,” and therefore do themselves a favour by ensuring that the flow of traffic will be stopped for them in a timely manner. No need to go blustering about trying to speak for everyone.
Why are you lying cptstubing? It’s widely accepted and factual that the more often and the faster you push those buttons, the sooner the light will change in your favor. Did you learn nothing during your time as a pedestrian?
mrman surely a person such as you gives us all another reason to hate halifax a little more; ignorance and rudeness to spare.
Maybe you stand around like a moron waiting for lights to change but I certainly don’t and judging by 95% of the other pedestrians in Halifax they don’t either.
I don’t even own a car so you’re way off base there, in fact the whole point of my comment was in support of easier pedestrian crossing and that pedestrian right of way should be automatic without having to push the button.
Didn’t I say that the audio signal should be automatic; lord knows I didn’t want exclude the visually impaired.
Try reading the article in the Coast from two weeks ago (?) it was all about the damn buttons.
So mrman you went to school? Was it DeVry? UCCB for two weeks and you lecture me on subtlety?
Let me put this in terms you seem to understand: get your head out of your ass you pathetic dimwit. I’ve taken shits that have had a higher IQ than you.
Civil engineering at UNB and Dal. The pedestrian lights don’t go off automatically because many (if not most) intersections nowadays are traffic actuated to minimize wait times and maximize flow rates. There is no need of having lights change when there is no demand for them to change. This demand can be from vehicles or pedestrians; magnetic sensors buried under the pavement detect vehicles and since pedestrians are not made of metal, they rely on buttons.
Different configurations of vehicles/pedestrians reflect different light patterns. If there are no cars in a left turning lane, an advance left turn is pointless. If there is only one car waiting to advance, having a 45 second green light is pointless. If there are no pedestrians waiting (and therefore no button pushed) having a walk sign is, you guessed it, pointless.
If the whole point of your earlier comment was to support pedestrian ROWs, you certainly had me confused. Sorry about my harshness, but there are clearly far too many people in this city that have a total disregard for pedestrians – I thought you were one of them.
Hey Stubing and LHH, if you want to walk into a crosswalk when there’s no traffic, great. Go ahead and do so. When you get hit by a car, don’t sue the driver, because you won’t have the right of way. I hate those bleedin’ buttons, but they’re there for a reason, it would seem. They do advance the timing of the lights, and on average it’s by about 10 seconds.
Dr. Fever,
Please tell me at what intersection do they advance the timing of the lights. The buttons at Robie/Spring Garden don’t make any difference at all, they only make a tweeting sound opposite where you press the button, I’ve tried all 4 and know this for a fact as I live nearby.
thanks!
Oh and fever,
How can I get hit by a car on a crosswalk when there’s no traffic around? Are you saying when I press the button I can forget about everything going on around me and just look straight ahead while I cross? Fantastic!! What about if I DO pay attention and not use the buttons?
I argue that the button (even the goddamned ped crossing buttons that stop cars in both directions) lulls crossers into a false sense of security, and they no longer pay attention to their environment. Too many people with heads in their mp3 players and mobiles. I prefer what I was taught when I was 5 years old, look both ways and cross when its safe. Shit, a 5 year old kid here would be toast if it weren’t for the button, but take a 5 year old from Laos and they know what to do.
The lights at Queen and Morris definitely only change for pedestrians if you push the button.
Same with the ones by the Infirmary at Trollop and Summer.
What I think is stupid about these things is the ones with no actual button, just the sensor won’t work if it gets too cold. Just go back to the good old reliable “button” versions.
I don’t think Fever was implying that everyone who jaywalks just flings themselves willy-nilly into traffic. Most jaywalkers, I think, enjoy living and don’t wish to die, and make sure that any oncoming cars are far enough away before they go. He was just saying that some people prefer not to take that risk, and they shouldn’t be judged for waiting and using the buttons. It’s not like it’s hurting anyone. If someone is stupid enough to press the buttons and cross without looking, I’d argue it’s their own fault if they get hit.
People Are Stupid,
There are no lights at Queen and Morris. You probably meant Queen/South. Never used that intersection as I dont live near there and have no reason to check it out, other than for the buttons I suppose or maybe if im drunk