Recognizable: why you only have to press the button of a traffic light once

During a walk or bike ride through Zoetermeer you are waiting at a traffic light. You press the button. After a few seconds you get impatient. Just press it a few more times, who knows, maybe the light will turn green faster. Is this a justified thought or does the number of times the button is pressed have no influence on the speed of a traffic light?

It’s a familiar street scene: how often do you see a cyclist pressing the button a few times while waiting? Or maybe you do it yourself by default.

Press a button multiple times

Is that actually useful? Luuk Misdom has the redeeming answer. He is a commercial traffic engineer at ‎Vialis, a company that ensures availability and traffic flow. “The answer is that it makes no difference. Pressing more often does not make sense and also pressing the button longer makes no difference.”

That is how it works

How exactly does the traffic light process work? Most of the traffic lights for pedestrians and cyclists operate on demand. If you press the button, your application will be taken into account. Luuk: “Then it is a matter of waiting. It can take a long or short time, depending on the order. At many traffic lights, a light is on when you press the button or the message ‘wait for green’ is displayed. Then you know that your application has been registered by the traffic light.”

Luuk says that a small number of traffic lights have an automatic ‘program’. The lights change automatically whether or not you press the button. Conclusion: in both cases the process is not accelerated by pressing the button several times.

Detection loops under the road surface

Nowadays, detection loops for cyclists are located under the road surface, so you no longer have to press a button at all. Nevertheless, a button at a traffic light for several functions remains useful. A cyclist may miss the loop. To AD says traffic psychologist Gerard Tertoolen that a button also helps from a psychological point of view: “By pressing the button, you get the feeling that you have an influence on it and that has a positive effect. Unless you have to wait a very long time, then it becomes frustrating again.”