Man complains pressing pedestrian crossing button doesn't instantly turn traffic light green, gets clowned on

A man has complained that pressing the button at a pedestrian crossing does not turn the traffic light green straight away.

He posted about it in the Complaint Singapore Facebook group, saying he had pressed the button, but the "green man" did not appear immediately.

"Need to change to green man at once"

He said that at some junctions, such as Balestier Road in front of Zhongshan Mall, the wait was at least three minutes.

He added: "Need to change to green man at once upon pressing for all pedestrian crossings. If not, press button is meaningless."

How the buttons actually work

The post drew mostly mockery, though a few commenters took the time to explain how the system works.

One user wrote:

"It's not a light switch at your home. It's designed to make traffic flow efficient.

It gives a signal to the traffic circuit that there is a person crossing on that path so that it will give access to the crossers on it's next cycle, not immediately at pressing it."

The commenter added that if the button is never pressed, the junction gives priority to passing vehicles to keep traffic moving.