You mean the placebo button?
Placebo buttons at stoplights are by no means limited to the United States. In places like Hong Kong and London, some buttons work only at certain times of day (if at all).
Interesting article.
It’s sometimes a placebo, but often still real, depending where you are in the world :)
The crossing pictured in the anime seems the kind most likely to be real, incidentally - a crossing on a straight stretch of road that isn’t at an intersection. There are several of these near where I live, and they’ll stay red all day long if nobody pushes the button.
The ones near me are especially satiafying to use, too. Because they don’t have to wait for an intersection sequence the light changes almost immediately when you push the button (if nobody else has recently pushed it) so it feels very powerful haha.
Many buttons aren’t placebo since pressing them makes the audible noise alerting blind people to walk and initiates the crosswalk countdown.
In Japan there are intersections, usually attached to main thoroughfares, where the light will stay green for the busy road until a car approaches from the smaller road or the crosswalk button is pressed.
These days, most crosswalks are on a timer. But, if you see a button, you usually have to press it. A light above the button indicates it has been pressed and will either cycle the lights immediately or wait until the next timed cycle.
(Some older crosswalks that have since been automated still have buttons attached to the light poles, pressing those buttons do nothing because they’ve already been activated by the computer controlling the light timer. The activation light above the button is always lit.)
(Sorry, this was meant as a response to @NaibofTabr@infosec.pub.)
spoiler Hibike Euphonium
It’s hard to get used to seeing them so young after watching 3rd season. Kyouto Animation did a great job with the characters’ growth.
