Walk Signal Button

[Random]

Who do I call or email about a broken signal button that need fixing?

[Pretender]

The page with all the numbers/e-mail addresses your would use to report a city problem is here: http://www.honolulu.gov/csd/publiccom/fixit.htm


The on-line form for reporting various problems is located here: http://www4.honolulu.gov/cityhallonline/DIT0200/DIT0200_frmProblemReportFormInitiate.asp

[Glen Miyashiro]

A check in this directory (http://www.honolulu.gov/csd/publiccom/onecall.htm) suggests that you should call one of these numbers:

Traffic engineer, state, Oahu District Office (DOT)
831-6703

Traffic engineers (DTS)
768-8324

Traffic Signal Control Center (DTS)
527-6988

Traffic signal, requests for (see traffic engineers)

Traffic signal maintenance (DFM)
564-6101

[Honoruru]

Personally, I think they should do away with those walk signal buttons. Why should a pedestrian have to press a button in order for the signal light to say "walk"?

[DannyWilliams]

Personally, I think they should do away with those walk signal buttons. Why should a pedestrian have to press a button in order for the signal light to say "walk"?



uhhhhh so that we as pedestrians can get to the other side?

But then again, ppl in cars are SCAAAAAARY nowdays

When I was heading to work some idiot just drives right thru on a RED LIGHT?

Hello?!?!?

[tutusue]

Personally, I think they should do away with those walk signal buttons. Why should a pedestrian have to press a button in order for the signal light to say "walk"?
Hmmm...I thought the walk buttons addressed a timing issue. That is, they allowed for longer green lights for cars should no pedestrians need to cross. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I wish we had the countdown kind so we could see exactly how much time was left in which to cross. Coulda used this feature last week when crossing Ala Moana with a police car stopped at the red light and those of us on foot suddenly faced with the flashing red hand before we were even half way across the street! :rolleyes:

[Honoruru]

Hmmm...I thought the walk buttons addressed a timing issue. That is, they allowed for longer green lights for cars should no pedestrians need to cross. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I really don’t think that’s the case. I believe the vast majority of intersections with “walk” buttons have been deactivated. It doesn’t matter if you press the button or not. The “Walk” sign will appear when the light turns green; the timing of the lights does not change at all. It’s a placebo. We press the button because we think somehow it makes a difference.

Here’s a link to a story in the New York Times (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=technology&res=9E02E6DE113CF934A15751C0A9629C8B63) about this modern day phenomenon. I know there was a similar story on one of the Honolulu dailies, but I can’t find it.

There are, however, a handful of intersections here in Honolulu where pressing the button does matter, but the only thing that happens when you press the button is the activation of the “Walk” sign when the light turns green. If you don’t press the button, the “Walk” sign won’t appear. But the timing of the signals remains the same. The problem with these intersections is that the button is often quite a distance from the crosswalk, or is difficult to find, or is broken (sometimes intentionally). If you can’t reach the button in time, or can’t find it, or it doesn’t work, then the “Walk” sign will not appear and you have to wait for the next go around, or hope that someone else at one of the other corners will press the button, or go down the next block or two to the next crosswalk, or, in desperation, go against the “Don’t Walk” sign.

What I’m advocating is that all traffic lights should automatically signal “Walk” when it turns green, whether or not the pedestrian presses the button. This is one of the recommendations the AARP (http://starbulletin.com/2007/01/30/news/story04.html) made in a crosswalk study earlier this year after the series of pedestrian deaths.

As for the countdown signals, I’m all for it. I think they’re great! It’s just that I don’t want to press a button to activate it.

[Random]

Hmmm...I thought the walk buttons addressed a timing issue. That is, they allowed for longer green lights for cars should no pedestrians need to cross. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Well, for me, I'd rather want the walk sign to turn green, that's all. It's frustrating that one signal button doesn't work but the one across from it does ... but no one is over there to push that working button.

Honestly, how difficult is to have a few government guys to go walk in plain clothes and inspect the buttons by simply pushing it? What, $10 more in their paychecks? The government is better off buying those $200 screwdrivers in the 80's.

[Adri]

/snip It’s a placebo. We press the button because we think somehow it makes a difference.

/snip
There are, however, a handful of intersections here in Honolulu where pressing the button does matter, but the only thing that happens when you press the button is the activation of the “Walk” sign when the light turns green. If you don’t press the button, the “Walk” sign won’t appear. /snip

I understand people thinking that pressing the button makes a difference (because there are those few intersections where the walk signal appear if the button isn't pressed) but I don't get the people who push the button after watching someone else push the button (what, they don't think the other person did it good enough?) or repeatedly push the button (as if that will make the walk signal appear more quickly).

I also don't get why we have those walk signals that don't appear if the button isn't pushed. It's not like the traffic lights don't change if the button isn't pushed. I agree that the walk signals should just appear automatically.

[lavagal]

What I’m advocating is that all traffic lights should automatically signal “Walk” when it turns green, whether or not the pedestrian presses the button. This is one of the recommendations the AARP (http://starbulletin.com/2007/01/30/news/story04.html) made in a crosswalk study earlier this year after the series of pedestrian deaths.

As for the countdown signals, I’m all for it. I think they’re great! It’s just that I don’t want to press a button to activate it.

Legislation has been passed regarding the timing of lights and changes are to be made regarding the length the pedestrian has to cross.

[Leo Lakio]

I really don’t think that’s the case. I believe the vast majority of intersections with “walk” buttons have been deactivated. It doesn’t matter if you press the button or not. The “Walk” sign will appear when the light turns green; the timing of the lights does not change at all. It’s a placebo. We press the button because we think somehow it makes a difference.It's probably a budgetary issue as well - cheaper to just leave the deactivated buttons in place than to remove them. And you can't go around telling people "don't bother with the buttons any longer" unless EVERY one has been deactivated.

[Glen Miyashiro]

We talked about walk signals a while ago in, of all places, a thread about Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showthread.php?t=2066).

[craigwatanabe]

The walk sign should be one of a person running with perspiration drops so pedestrians can take the hint to move quickly across the streets.:D

[Random]

I understand people thinking that pressing the button makes a difference (because there are those few intersections where the walk signal appear if the button isn't pressed) but I don't get the people who push the button after watching someone else push the button (what, they don't think the other person did it good enough?) or repeatedly push the button (as if that will make the walk signal appear more quickly).
Because we don't trust the person pushing the button if they push it well. It's not like tapping a key on your keyboard or clicking a mouse button. For some reasons, some of the buttons, especially those big honkin' ones, have strong spring behind it. I practically had to pound them.

I also don't get why we have those walk signals that don't appear if the button isn't pushed. It's not like the traffic lights don't change if the button isn't pushed. I agree that the walk signals should just appear automatically.
Personally, I'd rather do away with walk signal buttons as long the walk sign appears automatically with increased time to walk across before the light changes.

Personally, I think we're wasting money on signal buttons. But until the changes are in effect ... don't know when that will be ... check and fix the damn buttons.

[Honoruru]

There are a few places where it makes sense to have a walk signal button. Example: in the middle of a long stretch of road where some pedestrians might want to cross, but not enough to warrant a regular cycle of light changes. In the Harold and Kumar Goes to White Castle thread, Auahi Street near Farmer's Market is one example; another would be King Street in front of Zippy's near Washington Intermediate. Those lights, I believe, are always green for car traffic unless a pedestrian pushes the button. Then it changes almost immediately for pedestrians. That's the sort of thing these buttons were designed for.

Unfortunately, someone long ago decided that these buttons should be part of nearly every traffic signal light, even where it makes no sense to have them. Most of the old signal buttons have been deactivated, but there are a few here and there where their sole purpose is to activate the "Walk" sign. It does nothing to affect traffic efficiency. The Kanunu and Kaheka Street intersection behind Don Quijote is an example.

Most of the newer walk signal buttons, including those at countdown lights, are tied into that particular traffic flow system, but even there, many of them seem unnecessary. On Auahi Street, at the busy Kamakee Street intersection, the "Walk" sign will not appear unless a pedestrian presses the button. In that case (and in all cases), the "Walk" sign should AUTOMATICALLY appear whenever the light turns green and/or it's safe to cross, whether the pedestrian presses the button or not.