My favorite kind of crosswalk button
As I was crossing the street today, I remembered the crosswalk buttons on my street in Davis. I think they’re really great because they give you so much feedback. You can’t help but know what’s going on. When you press it, it kinda clicks. And it makes a beep. And the light flashes. And it continues to beep until you get a signal, at which time it tells you to cross (the ones in Davis actually spoke, telling you which street to cross). That’s tactile, aural, and visual feedback all in one device!
Contrast that with the pesky buttons at most crosswalks. The most common kind are mysterious buttons that you suspect weren’t connected to anything. I usually press these 5 or 6 times, just in case they really aren’t connected to anything.
More recently I’ve started seeing a button that has no button–you just touch it. This at least makes a beep for you, but just isn’t quite as good as my favorites.
Picture from Flickr’s acordova
One Comment
This seems like one of those cases where someone though they should streamline and reduce it down, and all you have are ambiguous toy-buttons that people press 50 times because they have no ideas if the things work. So hoorah for a good cross walk buttons!