Begging to Cross


An excellent post on so-called Beg Buttons, the thing on poles that we are supposed to push in order to walk.

Let’s be honest about the purpose of beg buttons. They don’t exist to make it easier for pedestrians to cross a street. They don’t exist to accommodate pedestrians with disabilities – even people with impaired vision would be able to cross the street more easily if they didn’t have to push a button first to get an audio signal. Beg buttons exist so that signals can be timed to pump more cars through.


A field guide to Beg Buttons is here