tomscott.com - @tomscott - There's a hidden nodule on some British pedestrian crossings that provides a vital clue for folks who might otherwise not be able to cross the road safely.
Color-blind- vision-imparied person speaking here. I live in Germany, and we kind of have the same thing, apart from it not rotating, but vibrating. So when I walk up to a crossing, I always loook for these buttons. Makes life so much easier for handicapped people, and fortunately, this system is mandatory for all crossings in Germany since the 1990s, so I can find them anywhere. Thanks, government!
We have something very similar in Australia. Out crossings have big metal buttons, and above that a big metal arrow pointing in the direction of foot traffic. The centre of the arrow vibrates heavily to a slow beat while you cannot cross, then to a very fast staccato when you can. The vibration tempo matches the beeping sound tempo.
In Sydney, Australia (and most of Australia for that matter), our crossings have a little embossed set of arrows that seem innocent enough, but in the center of them is a small piece of metal that will pulsate slowly indicating it is unsafe to begin crossing, but rapidly to indicate that it is safe to begin crossing. It's pulses coincide with the beeps made from the crossings, which is prevalent at every crossing I can think of at this time.
Yeah I have back problems a growth disorder I had during puberty and it's amazing how people assume it's going to magically just vanish one day and I'll start doing jumping jacks or something
Actually, you can instantly turn on disability but not off. If I broke my back and damaged my spinal cord then that's an instant disability. I can but I wouldn't.
in Australia all the traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings have metal speakers and lights so someone who is deaf can see the light, someone who is blind can hear the sound, and someone who is both can feel the speaker.
The Australian crossing button is cool too. It has an arrow on it telling people which direction the crossing is supposed to go, and when waiting, the button pulses once every second, and when it is safe to cross, it pulses faster (useful for deaf people). It also makes noises when it's time to cross.
Of the crosswalks with lights in my area, I can only think of one that makes noise for the blind. Britain seems to be ahead of the US on accessibility.
Here in the US, it's urban legend that flashing your headlights repeatedly makes signals change faster. I used to do it, it sometimes seemed to work, but mostly not, probably just coincidence. Haven't tried it in years. For the record, it is not complete idiocy, as some traffic lights are set up to respond to flashing lights so they change for emergency vehicles. I just don't think any human can match the frequency of flashing correctly.
In Australia we have a system where, instead, the button is really big and easy to hit, and above it is an embossed metal arrow in the direction of the crossing. Under that is a little hammer, that slams into the metal arrow about once every two seconds when the light is red, and then very fast when the light's green. This makes it easy to find the traffic lights, because it still beeps and vibrates, and it also makes it easy for deafblind people to use them because they're REALLY big and easily felt and if necessary more than one person can feel the plate.
"Why do I do videos near roads?" Because you're in the UK, where it is near impossible to *not* be near a road at all times. Since I came to this country, not a single moment has passed without me hearing traffic... and I live in one of the smaller towns, that most people here call "the countryside".
toddbod94 I think you might hear the traffic, you just zone it out. I've noticed a LOT of British people say "Hear that? No cars!", when I can hear loads of them. Then again, I come from a country where you can truly hear no cars in many places, and have not been brought up with all the traffic noise and therefore don't zone it out in the same way. BTW, I live in a cul-de-sac as well, in a quieter part of a quieter town, sitting right now in the middle of a room where the only window (closed, triple-glased) face my fenced in back garden, that's away from any roads. And I still hear the traffic.
+morphman86 either you're lying, with windows closed you shouldn't hear anything. Or you have something up with your ears and might want to see a doctor.
toddbod94 That's exactly what I'm saying. The noise is so prevalent that not even tripple-glazing in the other direction blocks it out fully. I still hear the white-noise-esque rumbling of cars in the distance, it's a constant, grating noise. Not loud, but it's there. That's why I think people who grew up with it don't hear it. Just like those who grow up around train tracks don't react (or even notice) the shakes when a train rolls by, or those who grew up in the forest don't even notice the crawling of small insects on their skin.
I swear this is actually a thing? I have memories of spinning them and the lights changing :/ these where long cylinders though that you would roll back and forth
@@hypzo77 correlation does not equal causation. which means just because it changed when you touched the knob, doesn't mean the knob had anything to do with it. idiots like you are just too ignorant and stupid to get this VERY basic concept.
***** i'm not sure how much you know about the geography of Aus but i live in the state of New South Wales, which is on the east coast, but i've also seen the arrow in Queensland and Victoria which are respectively north and south of New South Wales
I love how, after seeing this, when I went to the UK and had to cross a road I deliberately went looking for those nodules. hehe they weren't always there though in Cardiff which I found interesting.
It's an intervention. The rest of us on earth had a meeting and decided you needed to know things. Just wait until you see what else we have planned for you... 😲
OMG! What a great Idea! And I thought audio crosswalks were awesome the first time I encountered one. I'm visually impaired and I would love it if the US would adopt something like that. Most crosswalks in my area don't even have a button though, you just wait your turn. Most of the time I just have to listen to the flow of traffic and hope that people don't run a red light or decide to turn while I'm crossing and not pay attention. My mom who is also visually impaired has had people purposefully run over her cane. We need much safer crossings here in the US, especially for those of us who are visually impaired and are trying our damnest to be independent. It's hard to be independent when crossing a major street could be extremely dangerous for you because the only way you can tell if you can cross is..."I think the traffic parallel to me just started to go...or is that the turn lane?..." Audio crosswalks are nice but there so few and far between that there barely helpful.
@@user2C47 I've really only noticed it in the bigger cities. I don't live in a big city, but I do live in a place with a decent amount of people. There's absolutely no noise from any of the crossings, and they've been redone like 2-3 times.
In Australia, there's a small section near the button where the beeps from the crossing physically pulse through it so you can feel when it's safe to go. I can't think of a better way to explain it, so I hope that makes sense
In some places in the states if you press and hold the button it will 1 vibrate 2 beep 3 announce that it is safe to cross from the speaker in the box.
No it's on a timer. When it's safe to cross it'll say so, and then both boxes will chirp so you can hear where you're coming from and where you're going. Not as slick as the spinning thing, but it works for some people.
Skiron the ones near where me say "please wait" or something when it's not safe to cross. as soon as the lights change in a way that allows crossing, it says it's safe to cross.
I have some near me that will say "wait" if you press them twice, then make a loud rattling sound to let you know the way is open for crossing (from both sides). They're not as good as these, but they do have their uses.
In my neighborhood it beeps, buzzes and vibrates so even if you're deaf; blind and dumber than Donald Trump you can still find your way across the street.
Here in Australia, our crossings have big, round metal buttons, and a sizeable metal arrow above them which is raised from the surrounding metal and points in the direction of the crossing. Something behind the metal arrow actually percusses against it when the lights change and you’re safe to cross, so blind and vision-impaired people can actually just keep a finger on it and know when it’s safe to go. Very cool!
it's surprising how many people don't know about it. I had no idea until someone told me quite a few years back now. Not every crossing has them though.
Got a similar system in australia, its not a knob, but a blind or visually impaired person can here it clicking (dont walk) then a tone drop to a faster clicking to indicate you may cross. A visually impaired deaf person can put their finger on the arrow and feel it clicking, its very strong on some units, but never so weak as to give a false positive.
Something that I didnt know (and I dont even know its true): There is a little sign in your car that shows a pump. This "pump icon" is always showing HOW you should approach the pump. So, if your icon has the handle on the right, your gas cap is on the left, and visa versa. Handy for rental vehicles.
MidtownSkyport I have never driven in a car that had a little triangle on them. Most of them just have a pump icon, and NO explanation in the manual about it other than "this sign is to show how much fuel you have in your car".
In Australia we have the same thing for disabled people however it's much more uniform and well designed. The noise that makes the peebs is the feedback for the blind and deaf. It's a small metal plate that vibrates, that makes the noise and the haptic feedback. It's easy to find as it just above the button and it's in a physical arrow to tell you which way it goes.
This video made me realise why Australian pedestrian crossings have the button vibrate when it is safe to cross, it is to do the same thing that these do. If you were wondering, all pedestrian crossings in Australia have a large metal push button on them. This button will beep about every 5 seconds when it is red (to signal to blind people where it is) and then will beep and vibrate frequently when the light turns green.
+NozyFX Same in Australia, except it's part of the button. Serves double duty as it both makes a loud clunking noise and vibrates the panel hard enough to easily feel
Yes, it definitely _is_ useful to have that ridge in the Netherlands too sometimes. Tom already mentions beeping signs; those exist in the UK too. But these things break sometimes, and now blind people are left with no clues whatsoever. That, and not quite _all_ street lights make these ticking sounds. The nudge would definitely be useful in cases like these.
I used to live near a crossing that had a beep system. Problem is there are birds where I live that mimic sounds. It was at campus so I reported it to Public Safety. They asked me what I thought they could do about it. I suggested they at least try to contact anyone who lives in that area who has a visual problem and let them know about it.
Australian Pedestrian crossings all are required to have the beeping, and also above the large button to cross is a pad of which pulses in time with the beeps so you can tell when to do, also these pads are large enough so that if necessary multiple people could touch them, as a pose to the spinning module in this video.
In NZ, there used to be a little pointy thing that would pop down about a millimeter when the signal turned green, it was always a fright when it happened. They now opt for a panel that vibrates in time to the crossing sounds. It's cool cause the panel is shaped as an arrow, so visually impaired people can know which direction to walk in
We had a crossing near us (Upstate New York, USA) that had a beep to let people with vision impairments that it was clear to cross. We also had a bird that liked mimicking sounds.
in Australia, we have ones that just make a unique sound and bang against the arrow that's pointing to the crosswalk, the banging is felt when you lightly touch the metal plate and is audible so it's for independence
In Toronto and most of Ontario, the button actually vibrates in a fast pulsing pattern, along with two different beeps for north/south and east/west, and they also don't take a lot of force to push, they are simply pressure sensors with a small threshold that vibrates once it's been "pressed." Gotta love Canada, eh?
Never knew this was surprising. Here in Germany there's a similar thing but they have different layouts (to feel) for different pedestrian crossings (there's special ridges in it and it vibrates instead of rotating) in case there's a tram, middle island, etc.
Some of them actually do speed up the times now. They're connected by a servo motor to a computer, which feeds back the position and speed of the button. If it's twisting, the computer is tricked into thinking that it's signalling it's safe to cross, so it has a safety feature that makes it safe to do so. This results in it speeding up the waiting time (but only by a few seconds)
+The Astronomicals I don't believe you. Where did you get this information? Why would the motor need to feedback its speed and position? There is no need for encoders here. Why would the computer be programmed to respond to input or changes to the rotation of this motor? And yes, it would have to be programmed to react like that, it would not be a coincidental by-product of the existing system.
Interesting. In Australia, there is usually a metal panel that pulses with each beep the machine makes. So if you require tactile input you can rest your hands on the panel and feel the slow pulse when the light is red, and the faster pulse when it you is safe to cross.
+Drake Aaron I was curious enough to look into that and was kind of surprise! While studies have found several call-buttons are merely for placebo effect, building that reputation, not all of them are. In some cases, buttons turn on or off throughout the day to favour pedestrians during some hours and not others. As well as, some junctions REQUIRE the pedestrian to press the call-button the the cycle will never change... The reverse of this is there are some which do run on a timed cycle, but pressing the button will immediately switch the light. The deception comes from the fact that a lot of buttons simply cause the next designated "pedestrian cross" in the traffic cycle to be activated.. So, in those cases it doesn't come immediately, but rather just changes the light after the scheduled cycle loops back around to pedestrians.
Let's say you have an intersection between a major road and a side street. On many such intersections, the major road will have a green light indefinitely unless it's triggered to change, either by someone pressing the button or by a car being detected on the side street. So if you don't press the button you won't get a green light. On top of that, if the side street is triggered by a car, the pedestrian signal /won't/ be activated, and the green light will be much shorter (around here it can be as short as five seconds) before going back to the main road. If you hit the button, you get the much longer pedestrian cycle since pedestrians take longer to get through.
In Australia we have a metal plate above the button with a speaker behind it. The speaker pulses a tone every second or so which also causes the plate to vibrate. When it's safe to cross the pulse becomes much quicker so you feel a rapid beat if you touch it. I always found it useful when I have headphones in and don't want to have to stare at the crossing indicator.
The crossing near my house only beeps when streetlights are off, because it's in a residential area, and there's two near the hospital which have signs to say 'these crossings are silent'. I hadn't thought about why, but that seems like a good explanation
When I was a kid, the rumour was that turning that knob made the lights change faster. I did not know the real reason for the knob until now, so thank you!
Meanwhile in New Zealand, our buttons have a little pad to rest your thumb on just above the button, and when the crossing is beeping it pulses to let the person holding on know it's their crossing that's beeping, and not another one nearby.
That's because in England we assume able bodied adults know when it's safe to cross and you don't have to stand there like a prize fanny waiting for a light if it's not necessary.
In california they talk very loudly and tell you what street it's for. Which is really cool. They aren't on every street, but in popular areas they are very common.
We actually have a similar system in Australia, instead if a nob on the bottom we have a little pulsing arrow that beats slowly when you cant cross and beats quickly when you can cross
In Australia, we have essentially a pulse point next to the button. The beeping (different speeds for stop and go) basically vibrates it so you can feel it if you put you finger there.
I think the Australian type is better. All crossings have visual and audio cues, but there's a little, raised arrow on the face of the crossing box that points towards the crossing and part of the actual arrow vibrates so you know when to cross rather than sticking your fingers where people have probably stuck gum
0:14 - Wow. I love the new style crossing button unit. Some of the older ones use a horrrible looking flat design, and nasty LED lights. The tungsten lamp behind a big chunky unit like that looks much better. It would have the effect of illuminating a pedestrian at the crossing at night too.
Here in Australia, we have bumps on the ground that tell people when they are going near a crossing, and our crossing buttons vibrate as well as make a loud, fast ticking noise when the light is green
on a side note there might be deaf people and we jolly well should just make something that covers all. btw fun fact cause i can. colour blind is a commonly known to people but do you know that some people cannot differentiate _italic words_ & *bold* from normal words.
the whitenoise has been a recent thing in lorries and so the crossing would not have them anyways and not all have the beeping either. Like some lights are still not LED.
Hi there. The reason Sam the stream crossings do not have audible alerts is if they are in proximity of other crossings. This is because beeping emitting from the speaker could be dangerous and people could be under the mistaken impression that it is safe to cross when it is not. All of those where this does not apply will make the noise.
Australian pedestrian crossing buttons have a tactile element too. There are physically raised arrows indicating direction that this button is connected to. So most will point straight ahead. Some will point left or right, and some have two arrows pointing in different directions. The units make an audible beep.... beep.... beep when it is a red light, then a beeee-bebebebebe sound when it is green. There is a corresponding physical point in the middle of the devices' arrow that give a very strong tap, in time with the beeps. tap....tap...tap.... taptaptaptap. If you google "Australian pedestrian crossing button image" you can see some examples.
I’d be interested to know if this is a better design than the one we have in Australia. Over here the entire face of the button pulses on red and vibrates on green, and every single crossing has that and a noise.
In Australia, or at least Victoria, our things to cross the road are like a big oval shape, and they have an arrow showing you which way to cross, if you touch the arrow you can feel it vibrating and it goes faster when you can cross
we've got something like this on NZ crossings! it's a flat panel above the button that pulses slowly (maybe once every second or so) when the crossing is red, then faster (in time with the crossing beeps) when it's green :D
i love how at arround 0:50 Tom says "Theres people that can normally walk arround, but cant make out that signal!" and exactly then the guy in the back just casually ignores the red light and crosses the road anyways.
When I visited Britain in 1984, I didn't know British pedestrian signals made sounds. So when I was leaning against a shop window waiting to cross a road, I thought I had set off a burglar alarm! Instant visions of being arrested and flung out of the country and being told to never darken the doorstep of Britain again! True Story!
The yellow pedestrian crossing boxes in Germany have a button on the bottom, and only if you press it there will be a beeping noise when it is green. The loudspeakers make a tac tac tac noise to indicate that this is a pedestrian crossing allowing for that (so the blind person can hear that this option is available here).
It's not something that most people need to know about, and there are _so many_ other things that people _do_ need to know about, so it goes unnoticed by most people.
there is no reason for people who have nothing to do with it to know about blind peoples lives. thats just the thing, you cant know everything. do you know about the cultures of the amazonian tribes? do you know about inuit lives? do you know about ... there are many groups i could name. so stop acting as if we are expected and obligated to know to virtue signal -.-
@@Cheesus-Sliced nobody can know everything so unless you are affected by it (be it you yourself are blind or have to do with blind people) then you are learning about something that got little to no value to you instead of learning that does. so its not smart to do that
A double tap of the button after five or so cars have gone past, and a couple of turns of the knob will make the lights change in your favour. Two crossings I use every day can be influenced this way in busy periods. One press, and it will change after about 35-50 cars have gone past. The double tap method? 15-20 cars. Except on Saturday evenings. I have done this regularly for over ten years, so I know it's not a fluke. Another thing: if you wait and press the button when no traffic is near on YOUR right hand side, the lights will generally change immediately.
Woah the fact that I diddnt realize this could be an issue and the fact that we don't have any indication for blind people to cross crosswalks in America is horrifying...
We have something similar in Australia, the standardized call to cross button(when maintained) has a distinct tactile button that has well defined pop when pushed and a percussive device that is dual purpose with a tactile arrow pointing in the direction you need to walk, distinct tones that can be felt when reading the tactile arrow.
They'd best not get caught, tampering with traffic control devices carries some hefty fines and jail time. Call the council or department of traffic to report them broken if you can
I just put this video idea together with another one you had - the pedestrian crossing could use white noise air puffs instead of the beep in a similar way to the trucks backing up if that is already established that is better - stands out better from the background and can be better detected by human ears.
Tom in 2014: why do I do videos near roads?
Tom in 2020: does a single take 10 minute video near a road
Tom again in 2020: does a single take 1 hour video
Yuval Nehemia Which 10-minute video do you mean?
@@_zoey.17 probably the desani water one
@@fbubbar A single take video _on_ a road!
reminds me of that one-take-video, where in the last sentence of an otherwise flawless take, a car honked 😂
if you twist it and push the button at the same time it takes a screenshot
But u have to use dial up to get it on Four Square
and if you push the button twice, twist it counter-clockwise, then clockwise, then push the button again it gives you the ability to double jump
This is brilliant
Blessed
JustSomeCringyKid, 😄
That's not a red shirt tom
blue shirt
from a timeline we weren't supposed to see
x
+
Maybe its really Matt in disguise. Matt we're on to you
😮
I did not know that.
I normally never put my hands under surfaces I can't see in case there's chewing gum or snot or a snail.
haha
Or a snail with a snotty nose chewing gum!
Beware the snails of April !
@@geespar1 xD
Or spiders 🙃
Color-blind- vision-imparied person speaking here.
I live in Germany, and we kind of have the same thing, apart from it not rotating, but vibrating. So when I walk up to a crossing, I always loook for these buttons. Makes life so much easier for handicapped people, and fortunately, this system is mandatory for all crossings in Germany since the 1990s, so I can find them anywhere. Thanks, government!
cant you just look at which light is lit up? the bottom is always go
We have something very similar in Australia. Out crossings have big metal buttons, and above that a big metal arrow pointing in the direction of foot traffic. The centre of the arrow vibrates heavily to a slow beat while you cannot cross, then to a very fast staccato when you can. The vibration tempo matches the beeping sound tempo.
Lucky.
Not all cities have them though, I think it depends on the state.
There's also different layouts for the vibrating piece depending on the layout of the crossing
In Sydney, Australia (and most of Australia for that matter), our crossings have a little embossed set of arrows that seem innocent enough, but in the center of them is a small piece of metal that will pulsate slowly indicating it is unsafe to begin crossing, but rapidly to indicate that it is safe to begin crossing. It's pulses coincide with the beeps made from the crossings, which is prevalent at every crossing I can think of at this time.
The same noise from the crossing from these is also sampled in Billie Eilish's Bad Guy.
@goobie someone has kept up to date on their Julian O'Shea! 😂
I was hoping that the secret button would let people play tetris
+Eazy A You can still play frogger
Evi1M4chine In New Zealand they had at least one crossing where you could actually play pong with anyone waiting on the other side.
Eazy A lmao😂👏
Yes
@@bremCZ I'm moving to New Zealand now also idc its 2 years later and almost 0 chance u respond
The guy crossing the road on red as you said "couldn't make out that signal" just made the video so much better.
"Disability isn't a thing that turns on or off"
THANK YOU!!!
It's amazing to me how many people don't actually understand this simple fact.
Err... except when it does, and somebody starts yelling at you for saying they "look fine" because some days they're less disabled than others.
swedish minion english please
swedish minion *You're writing in English shows us that your pros please ext of living in middle class are dwindling.
Yeah I have back problems a growth disorder I had during puberty and it's amazing how people assume it's going to magically just vanish one day and I'll start doing jumping jacks or something
Actually, you can instantly turn on disability but not off. If I broke my back and damaged my spinal cord then that's an instant disability. I can but I wouldn't.
in Australia all the traffic light controlled pedestrian crossings have metal speakers and lights so someone who is deaf can see the light, someone who is blind can hear the sound, and someone who is both can feel the speaker.
Oh that's what they're for? I always thought twisting them made the lights change quicker >.>
No-no-no, the lights change quicker if you keep pressing the button. Everybody knows that.
No-no-no, the lights change quicker if you hold down the button for a long time. Everybody knows that.
Yes
If I forcefully turned that knob underneath fast Enough, I could potentially blow up the pedestrian crossing button.
No-no-no, the lights change quicker if you take off the button, insert a small sardine, and put the button back on. Everybody knows that.
I love how this highlights good ideas which support people with disabilities. The world needs more of these.
Accessibility is Tom Scott’s pet cause. He has a lot of videos about issues like this.
Here in Australia, we have a vibrating metal plate that you put your finger on, that vibrates steadily when red, and rapidly when green.
we do?!
@@yourlocalinsomniac2264 the blue metal circle with the arrow
There's also the extremely loud beeping sound when the crossing is green too
Is it low enough to put your arse up against it?
The Australian crossing button is cool too. It has an arrow on it telling people which direction the crossing is supposed to go, and when waiting, the button pulses once every second, and when it is safe to cross, it pulses faster (useful for deaf people). It also makes noises when it's time to cross.
You brits are lucky. In the states, we're lucky if we have crosswalks, and if we do, we're doubly lucky if they actually work properly.
most of them are fake
You states are lucky, here in Africa we're lucky if we have roads.
and you're country is the one that cracks down on jwalking
@@imthescatguy They are all just cardboard cutouts made to look like crossings. Budget cuts are getting severe
Of the crosswalks with lights in my area, I can only think of one that makes noise for the blind. Britain seems to be ahead of the US on accessibility.
You know a youtuber has made it, when a video about road crossings gets 3 million views. :). Good stuff Tom, keep going!
Ohhh.... kids in my school used to say you could twist the little nodule to make the lights change faster.
exactly the same for me ;)
Anarchy xD
Ohhh... Kids in ur school were liars.
Here in the US, it's urban legend that flashing your headlights repeatedly makes signals change faster. I used to do it, it sometimes seemed to work, but mostly not, probably just coincidence. Haven't tried it in years. For the record, it is not complete idiocy, as some traffic lights are set up to respond to flashing lights so they change for emergency vehicles. I just don't think any human can match the frequency of flashing correctly.
@@johns9652 that'll be the IR emitters you're thinking of.... looks like a strobe light but at the same time, some flashes don't appear clearly.
In Australia we have a system where, instead, the button is really big and easy to hit, and above it is an embossed metal arrow in the direction of the crossing. Under that is a little hammer, that slams into the metal arrow about once every two seconds when the light is red, and then very fast when the light's green. This makes it easy to find the traffic lights, because it still beeps and vibrates, and it also makes it easy for deafblind people to use them because they're REALLY big and easily felt and if necessary more than one person can feel the plate.
"Why do I do videos near roads?"
Because you're in the UK, where it is near impossible to *not* be near a road at all times. Since I came to this country, not a single moment has passed without me hearing traffic... and I live in one of the smaller towns, that most people here call "the countryside".
Speak for yourself, I live in a fairly large town but I can't hear any road noise unless there's a car in the street. It is a cul-de-sac though.
toddbod94 I think you might hear the traffic, you just zone it out. I've noticed a LOT of British people say "Hear that? No cars!", when I can hear loads of them.
Then again, I come from a country where you can truly hear no cars in many places, and have not been brought up with all the traffic noise and therefore don't zone it out in the same way.
BTW, I live in a cul-de-sac as well, in a quieter part of a quieter town, sitting right now in the middle of a room where the only window (closed, triple-glased) face my fenced in back garden, that's away from any roads. And I still hear the traffic.
+morphman86 either you're lying, with windows closed you shouldn't hear anything. Or you have something up with your ears and might want to see a doctor.
toddbod94 Or I've grown up practically in a forest and have an easier time hearing man-made background noises...
toddbod94 That's exactly what I'm saying. The noise is so prevalent that not even tripple-glazing in the other direction blocks it out fully.
I still hear the white-noise-esque rumbling of cars in the distance, it's a constant, grating noise. Not loud, but it's there.
That's why I think people who grew up with it don't hear it. Just like those who grow up around train tracks don't react (or even notice) the shakes when a train rolls by, or those who grew up in the forest don't even notice the crawling of small insects on their skin.
We used to think that turning it made the lights switch faster 👌
I swear this is actually a thing? I have memories of spinning them and the lights changing :/ these where long cylinders though that you would roll back and forth
That's because the time it takes for the lights to change is roughly the same as the time it takes to get bored of waiting XD
@@hypzo77 correlation does not equal causation. which means just because it changed when you touched the knob, doesn't mean the knob had anything to do with it.
idiots like you are just too ignorant and stupid to get this VERY basic concept.
@@shawnpitman876 and why was it necessary to immediately insult him? That's very infantile
@@shawnpitman876 someone's on their periods
in Australia whenever it is safe to cross the whole module vibrates and the vibrations are intensified on one part in particular.
Seán O'Nilbud NO!
The arrow! I live in England now, have only ever found one of these. In Southend, Essex.
They're on every crossing that i've seen in Australia.
SilverEagle XI Where in Aus do you live? When I was in Perth never saw them. There was the vibrating arrow thing
***** i'm not sure how much you know about the geography of Aus but i live in the state of New South Wales, which is on the east coast, but i've also seen the arrow in Queensland and Victoria which are respectively north and south of New South Wales
Tom is the guy making the english listening tasks for my exams, always near noisy roads.
I love how, after seeing this, when I went to the UK and had to cross a road I deliberately went looking for those nodules. hehe they weren't always there though in Cardiff which I found interesting.
+Kaleb White yes it is ;)
That's Cardiff all over !
that's what you get for going to cardiff
cardiff’s rubbish why go there? even Merthyr is better than cardiff
_“Why do I do videos near roads?”_
*“THAT is something you might not have known!”*
In Germany it's simple ... Vibration
Put your hand on it and wait (in doin it too when I'm bored)
Lemme guess, The walk buttons also function as dildos? (if they dont, Im willing to bet someone has used one for that purpose)
TheIronNinja
:D
Everything is a dildo if you're brave enough
I imagine that it's easy to distinguish between intentional vibration, and when a large vehicle drives past?
Here in India. You cross. You die. Nothing like that yet. Simple.
Why are you suddenly every where in my recommended
It's an intervention. The rest of us on earth had a meeting and decided you needed to know things. Just wait until you see what else we have planned for you... 😲
+DDG shhhhh dont tell him
Hey +DDG why do villains always give away their evil plans
Because the audience is stupid?
DDG exactly! "This ain't that kinda movie!" We need more movies like Kingsman
OMG! What a great Idea! And I thought audio crosswalks were awesome the first time I encountered one. I'm visually impaired and I would love it if the US would adopt something like that. Most crosswalks in my area don't even have a button though, you just wait your turn. Most of the time I just have to listen to the flow of traffic and hope that people don't run a red light or decide to turn while I'm crossing and not pay attention. My mom who is also visually impaired has had people purposefully run over her cane. We need much safer crossings here in the US, especially for those of us who are visually impaired and are trying our damnest to be independent. It's hard to be independent when crossing a major street could be extremely dangerous for you because the only way you can tell if you can cross is..."I think the traffic parallel to me just started to go...or is that the turn lane?..."
Audio crosswalks are nice but there so few and far between that there barely helpful.
They do exist. There's an intersection near me that has one, but none of the older "dumb" lights have them.
@@user2C47 I've really only noticed it in the bigger cities. I don't live in a big city, but I do live in a place with a decent amount of people. There's absolutely no noise from any of the crossings, and they've been redone like 2-3 times.
In Australia, there's a small section near the button where the beeps from the crossing physically pulse through it so you can feel when it's safe to go. I can't think of a better way to explain it, so I hope that makes sense
In some places in the states if you press and hold the button it will
1 vibrate
2 beep
3 announce that it is safe to cross from the speaker in the box.
Wait, so if you press and hold it when it ISN'T safe, it will still announce that it's safe?
No it's on a timer. When it's safe to cross it'll say so, and then both boxes will chirp so you can hear where you're coming from and where you're going. Not as slick as the spinning thing, but it works for some people.
Skiron the ones near where me say "please wait" or something when it's not safe to cross. as soon as the lights change in a way that allows crossing, it says it's safe to cross.
I have some near me that will say "wait" if you press them twice, then make a loud rattling sound to let you know the way is open for crossing (from both sides). They're not as good as these, but they do have their uses.
In my neighborhood it beeps, buzzes and vibrates so even if you're deaf; blind and dumber than Donald Trump you can still find your way across the street.
Here in Australia, our crossings have big, round metal buttons, and a sizeable metal arrow above them which is raised from the surrounding metal and points in the direction of the crossing. Something behind the metal arrow actually percusses against it when the lights change and you’re safe to cross, so blind and vision-impaired people can actually just keep a finger on it and know when it’s safe to go. Very cool!
OK next time I go to a crossing I'm Def checking that out. never noticed before
it's surprising how many people don't know about it. I had no idea until someone told me quite a few years back now. Not every crossing has them though.
really when i was like 10 o used to play with theme
@@theharristrain that's the joke.
Got a similar system in australia, its not a knob, but a blind or visually impaired person can here it clicking (dont walk) then a tone drop to a faster clicking to indicate you may cross. A visually impaired deaf person can put their finger on the arrow and feel it clicking, its very strong on some units, but never so weak as to give a false positive.
Something that I didnt know (and I dont even know its true): There is a little sign in your car that shows a pump. This "pump icon" is always showing HOW you should approach the pump. So, if your icon has the handle on the right, your gas cap is on the left, and visa versa. Handy for rental vehicles.
Almost. It's not the side that the pump handle is on, but there will be a small triangle/arrow thing that points to the side your gas cap is.
MidtownSkyport I have never driven in a car that had a little triangle on them. Most of them just have a pump icon, and NO explanation in the manual about it other than "this sign is to show how much fuel you have in your car".
A common legend and not true sorry
I know this is 4 years old but for anyone reading this: it indeed *is* true. Source: worked for car rental company.
0:53 I think this man is blind too (the light turns red before he starts crossing the street) :D
He's getting ahead of the game by checking that the drivers light is red. Us impatient Londoners use shortcuts to shave seconds
@@aceofspoons8382 speed run london any %
@@aceofspoons8382 every city has little tricks like that ;)
In Australia we have the same thing for disabled people however it's much more uniform and well designed. The noise that makes the peebs is the feedback for the blind and deaf. It's a small metal plate that vibrates, that makes the noise and the haptic feedback. It's easy to find as it just above the button and it's in a physical arrow to tell you which way it goes.
The UK uses tactical paving to work out which way to go.
This video made me realise why Australian pedestrian crossings have the button vibrate when it is safe to cross, it is to do the same thing that these do.
If you were wondering, all pedestrian crossings in Australia have a large metal push button on them. This button will beep about every 5 seconds when it is red (to signal to blind people where it is) and then will beep and vibrate frequently when the light turns green.
here in the netherlands there is just a ticker thats ticking against the inside of the pole. No buttons needed just always ticking..
ticking slow = dont walk
pulsing (2 ticks, pause, 2 ticks, pause) = Orange/yellow Light
very fast = walk now
+NozyFX Same in Australia, except it's part of the button. Serves double duty as it both makes a loud clunking noise and vibrates the panel hard enough to easily feel
Yes, it definitely _is_ useful to have that ridge in the Netherlands too sometimes.
Tom already mentions beeping signs; those exist in the UK too. But these things break sometimes, and now blind people are left with no clues whatsoever. That, and not quite _all_ street lights make these ticking sounds. The nudge would definitely be useful in cases like these.
exactly same here in Finland.
not always, most are broken...
niet altijd, de meeste werken niet...
Was in Cambridge this October. Loved these thingies. They give a good feeling when holding them as they start turning.
I used to live near a crossing that had a beep system. Problem is there are birds where I live that mimic sounds. It was at campus so I reported it to Public Safety. They asked me what I thought they could do about it. I suggested they at least try to contact anyone who lives in that area who has a visual problem and let them know about it.
Australian Pedestrian crossings all are required to have the beeping, and also above the large button to cross is a pad of which pulses in time with the beeps so you can tell when to do, also these pads are large enough so that if necessary multiple people could touch them, as a pose to the spinning module in this video.
In Australia above the bottom there is an area that constantly pulses with the same rhythm as the beeping.
In NZ, there used to be a little pointy thing that would pop down about a millimeter when the signal turned green, it was always a fright when it happened. They now opt for a panel that vibrates in time to the crossing sounds. It's cool cause the panel is shaped as an arrow, so visually impaired people can know which direction to walk in
We had a crossing near us (Upstate New York, USA) that had a beep to let people with vision impairments that it was clear to cross. We also had a bird that liked mimicking sounds.
in Australia, we have ones that just make a unique sound and bang against the arrow that's pointing to the crosswalk, the banging is felt when you lightly touch the metal plate and is audible so it's for independence
In Toronto and most of Ontario, the button actually vibrates in a fast pulsing pattern, along with two different beeps for north/south and east/west, and they also don't take a lot of force to push, they are simply pressure sensors with a small threshold that vibrates once it's been "pressed." Gotta love Canada, eh?
I notice the different noise for north/south and east/west when I was in BC.
On some traffic lights in Norway, Its a red button under the box that vibrates and ticks
That's so cool. I use those crossings every day and never knew that nodule was even there, let alone why
Call the police he’s not wearing a red tshirt or grey hoodie!!!!
Never knew this was surprising. Here in Germany there's a similar thing but they have different layouts (to feel) for different pedestrian crossings (there's special ridges in it and it vibrates instead of rotating) in case there's a tram, middle island, etc.
When I was younger I used to twist them hoping it would make the lights changed faster. I still believe it now
+TheMightyKinkle I held on to it very tightly as it went round, such as I stopped its rotation. It gave the lights another 5mins of crossing time xD.
+GlaDurDeaD Ha, If only
Some of them actually do speed up the times now. They're connected by a servo motor to a computer, which feeds back the position and speed of the button. If it's twisting, the computer is tricked into thinking that it's signalling it's safe to cross, so it has a safety feature that makes it safe to do so. This results in it speeding up the waiting time (but only by a few seconds)
+The Astronomicals Wow cool!
+The Astronomicals I don't believe you. Where did you get this information? Why would the motor need to feedback its speed and position? There is no need for encoders here. Why would the computer be programmed to respond to input or changes to the rotation of this motor? And yes, it would have to be programmed to react like that, it would not be a coincidental by-product of the existing system.
Interesting.
In Australia, there is usually a metal panel that pulses with each beep the machine makes. So if you require tactile input you can rest your hands on the panel and feel the slow pulse when the light is red, and the faster pulse when it you is safe to cross.
Tom: "Time to do a video near a busy road. Better get my suit on."
If it wasn’t for that nodule, or scroller, I wouldn’t be here today. Thank you for pointing this out, Tom.
The buttons on pedestrian crossings in the US don't actually do anything.
+Peter Newport sometimes? I'm pretty sure you just THINK they do if its "sometimes". No intelligent designer would make something work "sometimes".
*****
Ah okay, I misunderstood you, my mistake. I have a bit too pessimistic view of the intelligence of youtube commentors XP
+Natalya Volokov some streets in America don't have crossing signs
+Drake Aaron I was curious enough to look into that and was kind of surprise! While studies have found several call-buttons are merely for placebo effect, building that reputation, not all of them are. In some cases, buttons turn on or off throughout the day to favour pedestrians during some hours and not others. As well as, some junctions REQUIRE the pedestrian to press the call-button the the cycle will never change... The reverse of this is there are some which do run on a timed cycle, but pressing the button will immediately switch the light. The deception comes from the fact that a lot of buttons simply cause the next designated "pedestrian cross" in the traffic cycle to be activated.. So, in those cases it doesn't come immediately, but rather just changes the light after the scheduled cycle loops back around to pedestrians.
Let's say you have an intersection between a major road and a side street. On many such intersections, the major road will have a green light indefinitely unless it's triggered to change, either by someone pressing the button or by a car being detected on the side street. So if you don't press the button you won't get a green light.
On top of that, if the side street is triggered by a car, the pedestrian signal /won't/ be activated, and the green light will be much shorter (around here it can be as short as five seconds) before going back to the main road. If you hit the button, you get the much longer pedestrian cycle since pedestrians take longer to get through.
In Australia we have a metal plate above the button with a speaker behind it. The speaker pulses a tone every second or so which also causes the plate to vibrate. When it's safe to cross the pulse becomes much quicker so you feel a rapid beat if you touch it. I always found it useful when I have headphones in and don't want to have to stare at the crossing indicator.
There are good reasons why beeping isn't on some crossings. You might want to check it out Tom!
I'm confused
If crossings are too close to one another, blind people might hear it and believe they can cross even though unsafe to do so.
The crossing near my house only beeps when streetlights are off, because it's in a residential area, and there's two near the hospital which have signs to say 'these crossings are silent'. I hadn't thought about why, but that seems like a good explanation
When I was a kid, the rumour was that turning that knob made the lights change faster. I did not know the real reason for the knob until now, so thank you!
Ha I knew this! Only because I had a granddad who became blind and they told him this at the hospital. Quite useful to know, though.
Meanwhile in New Zealand, our buttons have a little pad to rest your thumb on just above the button, and when the crossing is beeping it pulses to let the person holding on know it's their crossing that's beeping, and not another one nearby.
"who could´nt make out THAT signal" - points to dude crossing the road even tho the lights are red....
That's because in England we assume able bodied adults know when it's safe to cross and you don't have to stand there like a prize fanny waiting for a light if it's not necessary.
I definitely DIDN'T know that! I'll be looking out for them from now on... Thanks Tom!
omg all this time, I thought turning it made the lights changed quicker!
How would that even work?
well before I knew it was for this, I thought it was some kind of mechanism for engineers or it turns slowly based on time.
Antony D'Andrea it does
Many people THINK that it makes the lights change more quickly. IT DOES NOT.
Will Payne it does man me and my Freinds timed it
In california they talk very loudly and tell you what street it's for. Which is really cool. They aren't on every street, but in popular areas they are very common.
Oh, I know this one, my family makes them for the WHOLE of England...yeah...they turn, it's fun to feel them.
We actually have a similar system in Australia, instead if a nob on the bottom we have a little pulsing arrow that beats slowly when you cant cross and beats quickly when you can cross
If you hit the button 3 times it makes the lights change faster .
In Australia, we have essentially a pulse point next to the button. The beeping (different speeds for stop and go) basically vibrates it so you can feel it if you put you finger there.
I think the Australian type is better. All crossings have visual and audio cues, but there's a little, raised arrow on the face of the crossing box that points towards the crossing and part of the actual arrow vibrates so you know when to cross rather than sticking your fingers where people have probably stuck gum
Whats with this arrow? Surely the only way to go is forward?
0:14 - Wow. I love the new style crossing button unit.
Some of the older ones use a horrrible looking flat design, and nasty LED lights.
The tungsten lamp behind a big chunky unit like that looks much better. It would have the effect of illuminating a pedestrian at the crossing at night too.
I asked a blind person to touch the knob at the roadside and got arrested. Thanks a lot
Here in Australia, we have bumps on the ground that tell people when they are going near a crossing, and our crossing buttons vibrate as well as make a loud, fast ticking noise when the light is green
ive lived in England since i was born 40 years ago.....I did not know this! :)
He complains at the end but it is actually a good illustration to his point about someone with bad hearing not being able to make out the beep
Why don't they have white noise beeping like in your reversing vehicle vid?
Interesting. I did not know that.
I was writing a really long comment to explain this, and then the internet cut out
fml
+Steve Gould If you have multiple crossings next to each other (within hearing range), you might get confused as to which is safe to cross.
on a side note there might be deaf people and we jolly well should just make something that covers all.
btw fun fact cause i can. colour blind is a commonly known to people but do you know that some people cannot differentiate _italic words_ & *bold* from normal words.
the whitenoise has been a recent thing in lorries and so the crossing would not have them anyways and not all have the beeping either. Like some lights are still not LED.
Hi there. The reason Sam the stream crossings do not have audible alerts is if they are in proximity of other crossings. This is because beeping emitting from the speaker could be dangerous and people could be under the mistaken impression that it is safe to cross when it is not.
All of those where this does not apply will make the noise.
I'm blind I'm can't see your videos
+viperz888 how'd you type then
+Justsomeguy... Voice to text software
viperz888 oh whats its called
Justsomeguy... Siri
viperz888 k
Australian pedestrian crossing buttons have a tactile element too. There are physically raised arrows indicating direction that this button is connected to. So most will point straight ahead. Some will point left or right, and some have two arrows pointing in different directions. The units make an audible beep.... beep.... beep when it is a red light, then a beeee-bebebebebe sound when it is green. There is a corresponding physical point in the middle of the devices' arrow that give a very strong tap, in time with the beeps. tap....tap...tap.... taptaptaptap.
If you google "Australian pedestrian crossing button image" you can see some examples.
I’d be interested to know if this is a better design than the one we have in Australia. Over here the entire face of the button pulses on red and vibrates on green, and every single crossing has that and a noise.
Thanks for this!! I'm blind and going to the U.K. in a week and this is so great to know!
“Why do I do videos near roads”
And that’s something Tom might not ever know
In Australia, or at least Victoria, our things to cross the road are like a big oval shape, and they have an arrow showing you which way to cross, if you touch the arrow you can feel it vibrating and it goes faster when you can cross
In atlantic canada, a crossing light is fancy if it actually works. We don't get fancy buttons or nodules like that.
we've got something like this on NZ crossings! it's a flat panel above the button that pulses slowly (maybe once every second or so) when the crossing is red, then faster (in time with the crossing beeps) when it's green :D
Australian buttons vibrate when it is safe to cross for blind people
*****
Oh, I love those!
+MineKynoMine Same in NZ.
We straight up just have the best country
Props to whoever put subtitles on this, this video had captions in:
Danish
Dutch
English
Finnish
French
German
Hungarian
When I was little I thought you could use that knob to decrease the wait time to cross the road
i love how at arround 0:50 Tom says "Theres people that can normally walk arround, but cant make out that signal!" and exactly then the guy in the back just casually ignores the red light and crosses the road anyways.
i hoped for something that would stop all traffic :(
When I visited Britain in 1984, I didn't know British pedestrian signals made sounds. So when I was leaning against a shop window waiting to cross a road, I thought I had set off a burglar alarm! Instant visions of being arrested and flung out of the country and being told to never darken the doorstep of Britain again! True Story!
I knew this. Lots of kids at my school said you could speed up the lights changing by turning it manually. (It's not true though.)
The yellow pedestrian crossing boxes in Germany have a button on the bottom, and only if you press it there will be a beeping noise when it is green. The loudspeakers make a tac tac tac noise to indicate that this is a pedestrian crossing allowing for that (so the blind person can hear that this option is available here).
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼disability awareness. Thank you. Like the shirt, too😉
In New Zealand, most if not all of the pedestrian crossing have a very strong vibrating pulse where the button to press is, for a similar purpose.
The fact we consider it a "secret" means we all just know way too little about blind people's lives.
It's not something that most people need to know about, and there are _so many_ other things that people _do_ need to know about, so it goes unnoticed by most people.
there is no reason for people who have nothing to do with it to know about blind peoples lives. thats just the thing, you cant know everything. do you know about the cultures of the amazonian tribes? do you know about inuit lives? do you know about ... there are many groups i could name. so stop acting as if we are expected and obligated to know to virtue signal -.-
@@dervakommtvonhinten517 it's good to know and understand these things so we can improve the quality of life for people tho
@@Cheesus-Sliced nobody can know everything so unless you are affected by it (be it you yourself are blind or have to do with blind people) then you are learning about something that got little to no value to you instead of learning that does. so its not smart to do that
A double tap of the button after five or so cars have gone past, and a couple of turns of the knob will make the lights change in your favour. Two crossings I use every day can be influenced this way in busy periods. One press, and it will change after about 35-50 cars have gone past. The double tap method? 15-20 cars. Except on Saturday evenings. I have done this regularly for over ten years, so I know it's not a fluke. Another thing: if you wait and press the button when no traffic is near on YOUR right hand side, the lights will generally change immediately.
Something is terribly wrong here:
Tom's not wearing red.
Woah the fact that I diddnt realize this could be an issue and the fact that we don't have any indication for blind people to cross crosswalks in America is horrifying...
I always wondered what that did.
We have something similar in Australia, the standardized call to cross button(when maintained) has a distinct tactile button that has well defined pop when pushed and a percussive device that is dual purpose with a tactile arrow pointing in the direction you need to walk, distinct tones that can be felt when reading the tactile arrow.
most of them are broken where I've tried to feel for them when I cross the road
I think teenagers snap them off and stuff
A teenager speaking here. No we don’t
They'd best not get caught, tampering with traffic control devices carries some hefty fines and jail time. Call the council or department of traffic to report them broken if you can
I just put this video idea together with another one you had - the pedestrian crossing could use white noise air puffs instead of the beep in a similar way to the trucks backing up if that is already established that is better - stands out better from the background and can be better detected by human ears.