Jessica Lindsay
Published November 24, 2025 6:00am
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There’s a social construct to crossing the road (Picture: Getty Images)
Between painfully slow walkers and reckless cyclists, pedestrians have a lot of dodging to do to get from A to B.
But some seem to take this too far, extending their dodging to the buttons at crossings – and apparently making everyone else around them irate.
This cohort, who Metro has dubbed ‘button edgers’, put a banal spin on the practice of edging, only instead of holding off from gratification in the bedroom, they do so on the street.
Button edgers ignore the social protocols of crossing the road, standing idly by and either assuming the lights will change on their own or waiting for someone else to take the initiative and press.
Are you a pusher or an edger? (Pictre: Getty Images)
Arguably more annoying, some also stand directly in front of the signal box, meaning others have to ask them to move to get in there and do the deed.
From ‘pre-loading’ to ‘pole hogging’, there are plenty of commuting habits that tick fellow travellers off, and that’s certainly the case here. Beyond that though, many find button edging outright confusing.
What are people saying about ‘button edgers’?
On the r/London subreddit, dannyhazzard recently posted: ‘I’ve noticed this getting more and more common over the last year but now it’s crazy. Literally 20 people standing around waiting for the traffic to stop.’
Hundreds of others shared his frustration, with one replying: ‘My mate never does and it winds me up. “Why? They don’t change any faster,” he says, and I always reply, “It’s the f****** council. You think they’re gonna spend money on a damn placebo? Have a word with yourself.”‘
‘I’ve actually had to push past people waiting to press the button,’ wrote slip_cougan, while Outrageous_Shake2926 added: ‘I have noticed this as well. They also stand in the way so difficult to press the button. They are in a world of their own.’
Succinctly summarising some onlookers’ thoughts on the habit, Dharma01 commented: ‘People are morons.’
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Another Redditor blamed the habit on ‘stupidity, lack of initiative and laziness,’ but a few self-confessed button edgers said their push-shyness was all down to concerns over hygiene (especially in the wake of Covid).
Some felt it was no big deal though, including SoloWalrus who said on an r/PetPeeves thread: ‘It’d take a long time of waiting for me to ever care enough to actually remember to hit the button if I’ve forgotten.’
Does pushing the button at a crossing make any difference?
One of the most common excuses for not pressing the button is that it makes no difference to when the lights change – and there seems to be some truth to this.
The specific workings of these systems are murky – possibly because local authorities do things differently in each area, or possibly because letting the public see behind the curtain could lead people to take road safety into their own hands – but ‘placebo’ crossings aren’t a complete conspiracy theory.
There’s no definitive answer on how many, but some lights are automated (Picture: Getty Images)
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport previously told the BBC that traffic lights ‘may be programmed to come up every time even if no-one presses the button’, which is a roundabout way of saying they can be set to a timer.
What’s never been officially confirmed is to what extent pedestrian signals override these pre-set timings, although the same investigation revealed wide disparities around the country; certain inner-city lights appeared to be fully automated, others differed between nighttime and daytime using the SCOOT, or Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique, adaptive traffic control system, and others (particularly in quieter areas) would always change as soon as you pushed the button.
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But even though there’s no guarantee human input speeds up the process every time, it definitely does sometimes. TfL claimed the green man is pedestrian-controlled ‘at the majority’ of London’s junction crossings, while around 80% of Edinburgh’s and 60% of Manchester’s were the same.
The truth is, there’s nothing to lose by taking a milisecond to push a button.
After pelican crossings were decommissioned in 2016, those installed over the last decade largely use the puffin system, which features a user-friendly intelligent sensor that cancels the call request if the pedestrian crosses before the lights change or walks away. Effectively, this means cars aren’t stopping for no-one.
So, if you know pressing could even potentially get you safely across the road faster, and drivers aren’t inconvenienced either way, what are you waiting for?
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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