February 28th, 2004
Fake Buttons
For Exercise in New York Futility, Push Button
For years, at thousands of New York City intersections, well-worn push buttons have offered harried walkers a rare promise of control over their pedestrian lives. The signs mounted above explained their purpose:
To Cross Street
Push Button
Wait for Walk Signal
Dept. of Transportation
And another…
Pushing all the wrong buttons
It’s not a bad habit — pressing the pedestrian crosswalk buttons to make it to the other side — but for years people in downtown San Mateo have been pushing them for no good reason.