[cleansingfire]

The button has no downside, with a possible benefit, so always push it. Also refers to discredited Bystander effect nonsense regarding Kitty Genocese murder: "there is no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive." https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0003-066X.6...

[lll-o-lll]

There is one downside. Here in Australia, the walk signal does not happen unless you press the button. The unwritten convention is that if you are the first to the button, you will press it. Others arriving later will not press, for fear of looking like untrusting fools.

This works fine 99% of the time. However, sometimes my wife will be there. She never presses the button (because she’s ADHD and always forgets), but stands nice and close. A pile of pedestrians will mill around, the lights will change, and the walk signal will stay red! Someone will then annoyedly step in and press the button approximately 20 times while everyone waits for another light cycle to complete.

Her other trick is to enter an elevator and press no buttons. Eventually the lift will go somewhere, but she is often surprised at the destination!

[kaoD]

Don't you have indicators? In Spain the buttons (which BTW are increasingly uncommon, cars lost the battle) have two large indicators, lit depending on the state:

- Please press

- Wait for green

[fian]

Some pedestrian crossing buttons play different audible beats so blind people know when they can cross. Famously the beat of one in Sydney was sampled for a Billie Eilish song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-zeJRjP6xA skip to around 4:00 mins).

However others have no indicator or sound. To make things even more confusing is the pedestrian crossings can also be programmed to happen automatically at peak times with no button press, but absolutely need a button press outside of peak hour.

[lll-o-lll]

No, no indicators. Just a great big shiny button to press (or not press if you are my wife).

[pixelesque]

No indicators on the unit itself, but the opposite side normally only has the red man light illuminated if you've pressed it doesn't it, and no light at all if it needs to be pressed and hasn't?

At least that's the way it is here in NZ, and when I've been in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane I haven't obviously noticed a general difference to here in NZ (there are particular crossings that are sometimes a bit different, i.e. you never need to press, but)...

[lll-o-lll]

In NSW, the red man is always there. No indication that the button press did anything at all.

Feedback would obviously solve (or at least alleviate) the problem I mentioned. It would, however, be much less amusing.

[askvictor]

That big button, incidentally, is quite a nice piece of industrial engineering. It uses a hall effect sensor and magnets to maximise the lifetime of the button.

[_kb]

For those not from AU, the PB/5 [0] is an icon of design history.

[0]: https://theconversation.com/sublime-design-the-pb-5-pedestri...

[Ekaros]

In Finland there is just a light above button in the box. It will light up when it is activated. Or actually when cycle is activated so also for other side. Decent enough UI for non blind, with blind I think there is sound in some cases.

[erhaetherth]

Floor 3. It goes to floor 3. At least in my building, which I think has 5 floors. So I guess it wants to wait in the middle to be equidistant to all floors, but I suspect there is a flaw in that math because ground floor probably gets more traffic.

Also, my wife is the same.

[aikinai]

I think you’ll enjoy this sketch:

https://youtu.be/QUg1t-JfAyY?si=pIiq2--f7WfkKYMG

[estiaan]

I find this so interesting because I also live in Australia but I will always press the button if close enough without much thought. I’ve gone my whole life thinking of this as just a normal thing, if not a slightly good thing for being the person who can be bothered to press it. So i was completely unaware of this unspoken thing haha.

[ttymck]

I fear looking like a trusting fool.

[purplecats]

> The button has no downside

downsides:

- inconvenience (like if my hands are in my pocket)

- exposure to illness transmission via increased contact with unknown but certainly dirty surface area (assuming touch is required)

- energy expenditure (if its not immediately next to you, or you have a disability)

[spiderice]

If these are the top 3 “downsides” you can come up with, then I’m fine referring to it as “no downsides”

[Vecr]

Touch it with your elbow. And don't walk around with your hands in your pockets near traffic, it's bad risk management.

[gnicholas]

Makes sense for the big buttons, but some of them have tiny ones with a little rain hat, inexplicably. Why don't they all have big buttons, which are much easier to push?

[erhaetherth]

We just have these stupid unpressable buttons near me. They're big with an embossed arrow on them, but if try to press it it might budge a quarter of a millimeter. I still don't understand how they work, if they're supposed to be capacitive or just have really tiny press windows. But they give zero satisfying feedback that you've successfully pressed the button. I hate them so much. And if you hit them hard they will murder your hand.

[gnicholas]

We have some that don't move much, but the make a beeping noise when you hit them, and an LED lights up.

[Qwertious]

>Why don't they all have big buttons, which are much easier to push?

In Australia, they all do have big buttons.

[WheatMillington]

This post is a reach and a half.

[jstarfish]

You had to turn a doorknob to leave the house, but you're too disabled to push a fucking button designed for handicapped UX?

You're going to touch traces of a million other people's gender fluids on every single other thing you touch during your errand. Germophobia is very selective.

[SlickNixon]

>an angst that could otherwise be channeled more appropriately

Sincerely, you might be on to something here.

[NiloCK]

Amazing you managed to write this post or read any of the comments.

Are your fingers OK?

:)

[spiderice]

Don’t make me laugh I’m trying to optimize my life for 0 energy expenditure.

[andrewflnr]

One downside I've encountered: some crosswalk buttons in Arlington VA make very loud robo-voice announcements about their status only after you've pressed them. Very good for the visually impaired, I assume, but irritating for me. And the signals are on a timer, so it doesn't help to press them.

Yeah, it's not much. In any other circumstance I press the dang button.