Jason Weisberger, via Boing Boing, explains that pedestrian crossing buttons aren’t a scam, but they’re widely misunderstood. They don’t make the light change faster or reduce waiting time. Their real function is simpler: they tell the traffic system that a pedestrian is present and should be included in the signal cycle. A clear technical walkthrough of the wiring and logic shows that the buttons matter, just not in the way most people assume—they register demand, not impatience. (