[Video] Australia's pedestrian buttons (design)

[vk3yedotcom]

Short video on Australia's world-leading design of pedestrian buttons.

Mentions Louis Challis, leading acoustic engineer.

[Halcyon]

I'd love to see a tear down of one of these. I'm sure no expense has been spared when it comes to longevity. They are extremely robust with many having been in service for decades.

[Towger]

The Dublin traffic control system is the same as the Sidney one. Hence our traffic is just as bad!  Anyway, a few years again some councilors decided the PB5 traffic lights were too noisy, so got the sound/vibration turned off on the buttons.  Needless to say there was total uproar and a couple of weeks later they were turned back on.

[floobydust]

I wonder what the button mechanical is like. Here, rain or melting snow gets in and ice-jack as it freezes.  With that big pushbutton, it's gonna direct water in there.

[SeanB]

They are also used here in Durban South Africa. Sadly they are not exactly the most vandal proof item around, as many of the hundreds installed no longer work, and as the traffic signal maintenance is not exactly done by the brightest, many are faulty, never repaired and non functional. The intelligence is in a die cast box typically mounted higher up the pole, and then led down inside via a few cable cores to the signal, and they are powered by the traffic controller, I would guess using the 230VAC used to drive the pedestrian crossing lamps, as typically there are no spare wires in the cable bundles used to interface between the controller and the pedestrian push buttons.

[@rt]

The Dublin traffic control system is the same as the Sidney one. Hence our traffic is just as bad!  Anyway, a few years again some councilors decided the PB5 traffic lights were too noisy, so got the sound/vibration turned off on the buttons.  Needless to say there was total uproar and a couple of weeks later they were turned back on.

Those Aussie ones in the pic originally had sounders/vibration as well, but must have been turned off. I haven’t heard one for a few years.
Maybe they’re still doing it elsewhere, but not in my city.

[DeanA]

I'd love to see a tear down of one of these. I'm sure no expense has been spared when it comes to longevity. They are extremely robust with many having been in service for decades.

Here we go then.....

Just 2 bolts to undo so not really tamper proof.
This one doesn't have the audio tactile transducer fitted or the light, I can post pictures of that tomorrow if anyone is interested.
All the electronics for measuring the ambient audio levels and producing the sounds is in another box further up the pole.
Everything required is all in the (not freely available) Australian Standard AS2353.

[DeanA]

The Dublin traffic control system is the same as the Sidney one. Hence our traffic is just as bad!  Anyway, a few years again some councilors decided the PB5 traffic lights were too noisy, so got the sound/vibration turned off on the buttons.  Needless to say there was total uproar and a couple of weeks later they were turned back on.

Those Aussie ones in the pic originally had sounders/vibration as well, but must have been turned off. I haven’t heard one for a few years.
Maybe they’re still doing it elsewhere, but not in my city.

The ones in Australia (well in my state NSW) still have the audio and vibration.

[Fred27]

I the UK we have a different way of solving the issue of alerting the visually impaired without disturbing local residents. There's a small knurled knob on the underside that rotates when you can cross. (It also helped me once when I had a really severe migraine as I was walking home.)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22706881
Definitely superior to the Aussie design. 

[Fred27]

Also, anyone else think it's a bit sad the the illuminated pavement/sidewalk for people who can't glance up from their phones is necessary.

[VK3DRB]

I had one I used as a doorbell, but it was the previous model where "Walk" would glow in red when the button was pressed. I reckon it was more interesting that the one shown. It attracted quite a few comments from visitors including "Now, where did you get that!?"

I also had an old drive-in speaker (that hooked on a car window) which I found at a kerbside rubbish collection. I sold it to a collector for $800  .

[Brumby]

Also, anyone else think it's a bit sad the the illuminated pavement/sidewalk for people who can't glance up from their phones is necessary.

Yep.     

[Gyro]

I the UK we have a different way of solving the issue of alerting the visually impaired without disturbing local residents. There's a small knurled knob on the underside that rotates when you can cross. (It also helped me once when I had a really severe migraine as I was walking home.)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22706881
Definitely superior to the Aussie design. 

They're known in the industry as 'Tactiles'. They're very nice coreless Maxon 24V geared motors too!

I never worked out why the BBC ran that article. Anybody with sight defects was already aware of them and nobody else needed to know.