> Whether or not the designers of pedestrian crossing technology took an interest in our psyches is unclear, as no-one seems able to confirm when the buttons we

> Whether or not the designers of pedestrian crossing technology took an interest in our psyches is unclear, as no-one seems able to confirm when the buttons were first made intermittently ineffective, at least in the UK. I would be very surprised if these buttons were originally devised as placebos, then eventually connected up when someone decided that when someone uses a button that purports to indicate their desire to cross, it might be desirable for it to have an effect on the signals on that crossing.