Pushing that pedestrian button can help, hurt

EVER WONDER if pushing the pedestrian button helps? It may, or it may not. First, pushing the ped button does not get you a faster green signal.

Second, pushing both ped buttons may cause you to get a longer wait time.

What do they really do? The timing of the traffic signal — green, yellow, red, all red — is determined by the volume and duration of vehicles passing in each lane in each direction for each period of the day, for each day of the week. A signalized intersection has numerous timing plans for different days of the week and different times of the day. If the time programmed for the pedestrians’ planned crossing — green — is sufficient, pushing the button has no effect. However, if the green time is too short to allow a pedestrian to cross to the other curb, it adds seconds to the green time to allow the pedestrian to cross all the way. The seconds added is formulae based on the width from curb to curb of the street.

So, if you push both buttons and one of the streets is very wide and 5 seconds are added to that green, it will be 5 more seconds for the other green to display. Pushing both may also delay the vehicle traffic if 5 seconds are added and there is no pedestrian crossing. Don’t push both buttons. Push the one currently red.

One caution, if you start across in the middle of the green phase, you may not get all the way across the street before the opposing traffic is released, and caution should be used.

JOHN KOLESSAR Retired former city traffic operations manager