Pedestrians unite!

I was walking through the heavily pedestrianized campus of the University when I saw someone do something brilliant. They were walking along a street they had no intention of crossing, but as they passed by the signal button for crossing the street they pushed it.



They pushed it!


I was flabbergasted. And I thought "But won't that make a red light for cars whether pedestrians are coming or not?"


And then I thought "But I am a pedestrian. Drivers have all the powerful oil companies for them, all the traffic engineers, and all the Politicians. The streets are designed for them, lights timed for them, and the city constructed around them. All we pedestrians have is each other."


So now I push "Walk" signals all the time when I pass them. At least I do when there are a reasonable number of pedestrians in the area. From the perspective of a driver I'd no doubt hate me. That's perfectly natural. But it's also a good reason for me to get out of my car and walk. And from that perspective maybe I'd be able to cross the street.