February 18, 2005 - Ed Pushes Our Buttons

There are things in life we all do that we know are for no reason.  We slam down the phone to end a conversation, even though we know that the person on the other end gets disconnected before hearing the slam. When watching a horse race, we scream at the horse and the jockey to go faster, even when we are watching on television 3000 miles away.  We buy lottery tickets, even though we know that our chances of winning are less than our chances of being struck by lightening.

One other thing we do (or at least some of us do), is push the traffic signal walk button over and over again until the light turns green, even though we know that once is enough.  It is not clear exactly what is going through our minds. Do we think that the traffic signal computer is counting, and we are, in a sense, stuffing the ballot box to make the computer think that there are lots and lots of people waiting, so it better change the signal right away? Or, do we think that the traffic computer is just forgetful, in need of constant reminding that yes indeed, there is a pedestrian waiting to cross the road?  Or is it just for fun, especially in downtown Santa Barbara, where the button lights up and makes a cute beeping noise?

The dedicated staff admits to trying to play Mary Had a Little Lamb with the walk signal.  It seems possible until you realize its just one note.

Yesterday, the dedicated staff of edhat.com stepped out into the early afternoon rain to check up on people’s propensity to push the pole-mounted pedestrian button. The rain was a real drag.  Fewer people go out walking when there is a chance of their getting wet.  But, the dedicated staff stood under awnings in front of mid-street crosswalks on State Street and waited for people to pass, hoping that they would cross.  The walk buttons for the mid-street crossings are quite effective, in most cases turning the street traffic light yellow immediately.

We saw people who pushed once. We saw people stand at the crosswalk waiting for the light to turn green without pushing the button at all. We saw a guy push the button with his elbow.  We saw people who pushed the button like Pavlov’s dogs being rewarded by food. One guy pushed the button 14 times!  Another pushed it 13, and was disappointed when the dedicated staff informed him that he was only in second place.

“Next time!” he said.

Another women approached the walk signal holding a small dog in one hand and talking on the cell phone with the other.  Her leg came up in Ziegfeld Follies fashion to push the button with her foot.  Some people are scared of getting germs from pushing the walk button. Those concerns now seem warranted.

35.7% of walk light users pushed the button more than once.  26.2% pushed it more than twice.  The average number of pushes was 2.2.

In yesterday’s contest, Benjamin came the closest with a guess of 36%. If you round up, you could say that he hit the actual percentage right on the button. Benjamin wins an Edhat hat and an Edhat t-shirt.  Just come by the Edhat office M-Th between 9 and noon.  We are across De La Vina from the Fielding Graduate University.

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