Flapjack State

joey-andromeda:

flapjackstate:

[image: an old UK traffic light button that says “pedestrians, push button and wait for signal opposite”, with the word “wait” illuminated by a bulb and an explanation of pedestrian traffic signals].
Reblogging that post about traffic light buttons made me realise a perseveration really suddenly. This is how traffic lights were when I was a kid, and that wasn’t very long ago. Many are probably still like this, but new ones aren’t. The text explains to the pedestrians how traffic lights work!
People I went to school with used to speed up (or slow down?) the little spinning part underneath, as apparently (erroneously) that made them stop the traffic faster. The new ones don’t have that spinning part.
And the signs didn’t have “walk” or “don’t walk” on them Americans!
(I bet that’s just a stereotype)

It is, but only because many American pedestrian traffic lights just have a red hand and a little walking person and no text whatsoever. :D In the city where I used to live, the “walk” signal (the little person) would only be lit up for like five seconds before the red hand started flashing, which meant “don’t start crossing, and if you’re already in the street, get the hell to the other side,” even though the flashing lasted SO LONG that you could totally make it across the street within that time. One of the happiest days of my life was when I realized that the flashing synced up perfectly with the beat of the song “DARE” by Gorillaz.

Omg, music syncronisation opens up new worlds of traffic light-based fun.
That’s a strange way of doing it, ours flashes the green one at the end of the crossing time. It meant the exact same thing, but seems to make sense to me. In summary, ours flashes green to show the end of the crossing period, whereas yours flashed red to show the impending stop crossing period.
That’s like some glass half full shit, but with traffic lights!

flapjackstate:

[image: an old UK traffic light button that says “pedestrians, push button and wait for signal opposite”, with the word “wait” illuminated by a bulb and an explanation of pedestrian traffic signals].

Reblogging that post about traffic light buttons made me realise a perseveration really suddenly. This is how traffic lights were when I was a kid, and that wasn’t very long ago. Many are probably still like this, but new ones aren’t. The text explains to the pedestrians how traffic lights work!

People I went to school with used to speed up (or slow down?) the little spinning part underneath, as apparently (erroneously) that made them stop the traffic faster. The new ones don’t have that spinning part.

And the signs didn’t have “walk” or “don’t walk” on them Americans!

(I bet that’s just a stereotype)

It is, but only because many American pedestrian traffic lights just have a red hand and a little walking person and no text whatsoever. :D In the city where I used to live, the “walk” signal (the little person) would only be lit up for like five seconds before the red hand started flashing, which meant “don’t start crossing, and if you’re already in the street, get the hell to the other side,” even though the flashing lasted SO LONG that you could totally make it across the street within that time. One of the happiest days of my life was when I realized that the flashing synced up perfectly with the beat of the song “DARE” by Gorillaz.

Omg, music syncronisation opens up new worlds of traffic light-based fun.

That’s a strange way of doing it, ours flashes the green one at the end of the crossing time. It meant the exact same thing, but seems to make sense to me. In summary, ours flashes green to show the end of the crossing period, whereas yours flashed red to show the impending stop crossing period.

That’s like some glass half full shit, but with traffic lights!

(via joey-andromeda-deactivated20120)

Source: flapjackstate