Just how many times do you have to push that button at the crosswalk to get the walk signal? I have seen children to adults pounding on the button over and over to get the light to change. Isn't once enough? And if the button is not pushed, doesn't the "walk/don't walk" signal become activated anyway with the car traffic signals?
-- Lori W.
Well, there are a number of possibilities here, Lori.
In theory, you should only have to press the button once. But consider this scenario:
You press the button and stand there looking patient. Then as the light doesn't change ... and doesn't change (and waiting drivers look at you, pleading 'Why aren't you pushing that X%$#@ crossing button?!?!?') you get to thinking, umm, is the switch getting old and maybe it didn't register my polite request? You never know whether the last person to use it might have whaled on it with a sledge hammer thinking that would have changed the light quicker. Or maybe it needs a critical mass of pushings for the light to switch? Perhaps if I push three times and say a Hail Mary I will hit the jackpot?
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Lori, since you're sitting there watching these folks do this, we suspect you're probably waiting on the same light to change, so why not cheer them on? (You can get a small bullhorn at Wal-Mart cheaply.) Or put it in park and dart over to chip in on the opposite side of the street! If we all work together, we can make a difference.
And to answer your last question, no, the walk signal doesn't always appear automatically. It does on some intersections, but our scientific testing has proven that the little green man only appears after you push the button, and only after pushing it 20 to 30 times (or even more for larger intersections).
Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to youasked@mailtribune.com.
