How Often Do Pedestrian Signals Break Down or Go Berserk?

I’ve noticed some pedestrians push the crossing signal button repeatedly. Sometimes the repetition is so virile that it reminds me of lab rats banging on a button to get a treat. Part of me presumes this is human impatience, but I also wonder: How often do these pedestrian signals break down or go berserk? Is it common? —Jay H.

I’m not going to say that crossing signal buttons never break down, Jay. However, given that their components are designed to survive 20 million activations (that works out to 1,000 activations a day for 55 years) without failing, chances are good that the behavior you’re seeing is more an expression of human frustration than a workaround for some mechanical defect. (Passing trucks do sometimes hit the poles supporting the buttons and knock them out of service, but pressing harder and faster isn’t going to help with that either.)

In fairness to the button bangers, however, the relationship between the button and the signals is not exactly straightforward. As we’ve already discussed in a previous column, pressing the button in some cases has no effect—depending on the location and time of day, the system might display the same walk signal whether anyone presses the button or not. This leads to a situation where the pedestrian is trying to assert control over a phenomenon they may or may not have any actual control over.

A very similar setup—a button that may or may not do something—has been used in psychology experiments to demonstrate “illusion of control,” our tendency to believe we have control over outcomes that are actually determined by chance. It turns out that most people will convince themselves the button works even when it doesn’t. The need to feel in control is a powerful human drive; you can hardly blame people for a little magical thinking here and there.

The flip side of the illusion of control is “control threat,” an erosion of our sense of mastery over our surroundings that’s become all too common in our uncertain world. According to a recent review of the literature, control threat has been shown to drive people toward “a stronger endorsement of spiritual beliefs, a stronger attachment towards in-groups, a stronger preference for governmental control, and more prejudice toward outgroup members.” Sound familiar? Sure, it may look (and be) pointless, but if a little harmless button mashing is keeping these yahoos from turning into Proud Boys, who am I to argue?

Questions? Send them to dr.know@wweek.com.