People used to not using the buttons during the day may not remember to use them at night. They may not even be able to see the labels at night, since (unlike any actual road sign, at least in the US) they aren't even retroreflective. This is likely to cause confusion, leading people to cross without a walk signal.
So this will disproportionately endanger people walking at night--which is already the peak time for driver-inflicted fatalities.
If they can't see the labels at night so what? They use their daytime experience of expecting it to be automatic and wait awkwardly for nothing... or they push the button and the light changes eventually.
The issue is that people won't "wait awkwardly for nothing" forever. If someone can't see the label and is used to having it change automatically, they're likely to assume that the signal just "isn't working," causing them to cross without a walk signal.
IMHO the biggest problem here is that the label doesn't meet the usual standards for road/pedestrian signage. In particular, "real" road signs are retroreflective so that you can see them easily under streetlights (or in car headlights). This is particularly important for signs that are only relevant at night. (Semipermanent signs should be made of a sufficiently durable material, which this...is not.)
But if you don't see the label the default assumption will be 'I need to press this button to cross', so they'll just press it for nothing during the day, which is hardly that bad.
Most of the world doesn't have these ridiculous buttons. A large number of people wouldn't expect to even ever having to press a button to get a pedestrian light.
Most of Australia also doesn't have these buttons as far as I'm aware.
So that's not most likely to be the default assumption at all.
1. At intersections with "leading pedestrian intervals" or "exclusive pedestrian phasing," walk signals provide unique safety benefits that reduce the risks posed by oncoming traffic.
2. This can be important: due to road geometry or other obstructions, it can be hard to see oncoming traffic from a distance, especially for the visually impaired.
3. Blind pedestrians can hear audible walk signals, but cannot see oncoming traffic at all.
4. At sufficiently complex intersections, it can be impossible for you to tell whether stopped cars are about to come towards you when a light changes.
5. Most importantly: walk signs usually tell you how soon a light will change, so that you don't start walking just before a light change.
This is why walk signals reduce car-related fatalities, particularly at night, when people are most at risk.
Most people walking past 10pm in the Sydney cbd, have had a few drinks anyway so guaranteed to cause confusion and increase j walking. Also the ambient noise detection does not work at all, I live at ground floor and can hear a nearby one and another one over 200 meters away clearly during summer night when I keep the windows open. the council turned it off completely after much complaining
I agree with this commenter and disagree with those calling it 'pearl-clutching.' If I have learned one thing in my life with regard to user interaction, it is to expect people to make mistakes and to do counter to what you would expect. This is especially important when life is on the line.
Yeah, I really don’t get it either. Extra context for anybody not from Australia - somebody basically always needed to press the beg button to cross at any intersection with signals for about as long as anybody has been alive. They temporarily changed it during COVID so you didn’t need to touch it. Now it’s going back to how it always was.
This already happened months ago in my city, I hardly even noticed.
At every hour of the day people have to wait for a walk signal. Nobody is just randomly walking into the road and trusting "the system" to stop cars for them.
So the fact that people are waiting for a signal at all times of the day isn't the issue. The issue is that, at certain times of day, after waiting, the signal is not forthcoming.
I guess it's possible you could take that first step if you are watching the orthogonal street light and attempting to preempt the pedestrian green, which never comes and instead you could be jaywalking into the path of a car that is turning.
I think if you thought through this a little further you would realise it doesn't follow.
No one is just walking into an intersection as if the 60 second timing cycle is their circadian rhythm. There are also hard to miss sounds queues that go with the pedestrian signals.
There are no shortage of city intersections worldwide where the buttons are placebo and people b manage just fine.
People used to not using the buttons during the day may not remember to use them at night. They may not even be able to see the labels at night, since (unlike any actual road sign, at least in the US) they aren't even retroreflective. This is likely to cause confusion, leading people to cross without a walk signal.
So this will disproportionately endanger people walking at night--which is already the peak time for driver-inflicted fatalities.