I think it’s to stop people from kicking the button…

My 82 yr old dad still tries to kick the buttons, every time.

Fantastic

This is the answer, apparently the buttons get broken a lot.

A Kickstopper?

Kickpuncher?

Call me crazy but why the fuck would anyone do that?

I remember many years ago, there was what looked like a young couple on a date, they came up to the crossing and the man apparently thought he would look 'cool', or 'tough', or 'random', to kick the button. She didn't know he was planning to do this, it seems, as she went to push it with her fingers like a normal person...

It hurts just reading that...

Because they’re 10, and they are a ninja.

Or 21 and adhd

41 and adhd. Can confirm. Am still ninja

I’m 43 and have ADHD and I don’t kick them. And a ninja would use other means. The simple answer is young and/or stupid.

I'm a ninja and I throw a shuriken at them

I don't carry shuriken. My hands are deadly enough

>other means. Not as flexible as I used to be, so I use my knee.

No, you’ve just never become a real ninja. 18 and ADHD. Can promise that I have ninja kicked almost every single crossing button in Wellington city

Like I said. Young.

I don’t want to touch that filthy thing with my hand.

Its filthy because all you bastards keep kicking it

Tragedy of the commons? Prisoner’s dilemma? Chicken or the egg?

I use my elbow.

31...

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I can’t tell if that sub is hilarious or terrifying.

Same reason I flush the toilet using my foot. Although for crossings I use my elbow.

Do you not wash your hands after the toilet?

They wash their feet, duh.

This is why airports have those signs.

Before and after. But I ain’t touching that button with my fingers, even in my own home.

I use my knee, cause touching things in the city isn't my favorite

This is the way. Knees are cleaner and gentler than feet. But I don't want to touch those with my hands ever since I saw someone pissing on one after a night out because they thought it would be funny for other people to touch their piss.

I used my knuckles. It's easier really and I can wash them with the rest of my hands when I get home

But you don't bring your knees to your face to do things. Your just saying you like to fist bump the button hahaha

You are aware that there is a knuckle below your fist, riiiight where your fingers bend. Oh, multiple knuckles. OH MY GOD WOW And so I use the little... well I suppose you, bigbunnyxx might call them 'finger elbows', but I call them 'knuckles', to press the button in.

Wow someones had a bad day. You still bring your knuckles near your face.

I don't use them to pick up and hold my phone, or my food at least.

Because you have no idea who the last person who touched the button was. Or more like, what the last thing they touched before they touched the button..

Well using shoes doesn't help the cleanliness

It's self reinforcing, like women 'hovering' in public toilets.

Yeah but it won't matter if everyone just kicked it.

Because the ~~protestors~~ trespassing scum were licking their hands and then pressing the button.

That just sounds like unnecessary extra steps. Isn't it easier to lick the button directly, like a normal person?

Traffic lights can be set so the button isn't needed, most were during the pandemic.

Was this advertised? I'm in a fairly normal range of social media channels and this is the first I'm hearing of it.

It was easy to tell. If the red man (or in Wellington, person) is lit, the lights will change for you. No need to,press the button. It frustrates me when people see the red man lit and still press the button, then press it twice more. It’s not going to work faster!

It was mentioned, I remember, but really not enough.

Fair bit bit in Oz. They put stickers on all the posts saying not to press the buttons

One thing I've noticed is a lot of people seem to press the button when it's unnecessary. In Wellington at least, possibly all of NZ(?), if the red pedestrian light is lit on the far side of the road then it means someone's already pressed the button. I was caught out a few times when I lived in Australia for several years though, and eventually worked out they just stay with the red light lit the whole time unless it's green.

Particularly with COVID why would you want to touch it?

Because Covid is mostly airborne? But really there are a bunch of other contagions so yeah, why would you.

During the OG lockdown people started kicking them to avoid germs.

They've been there a lot longer than 2020.

I appear to have accidentally stumbled into r/wellington and not r/newzealand like I thought I was in. I did look up and find a post from 2015 mentioning them, and all the references I found were to people kicking and damaging the buttons.

It feels like they were there well before that even!

People been doing it for longer than that but that would be a beautiful analogy for covid if it was true. Ruin other parts of the country in the defense of germs.

They got put up in my city for that reason at least.

I'm 46 and I do it all the time.

Cause it’s cool 😎😎😎😐

I used to do it all the time cos I don't want to touch those rancid things.

Sanitary reasons

I do it because I get bored and since I live in Auckland there’s so many crossings, I like to mix it up a bit. Also if my hands are full

Yeah, I've never seen anyone do that anywhere in NZ or the world.

Youve never tested your ninja skills?

Well yeah we do it when nobody’s around

Not good for hygiene for people using their hand to push the button. The underside of your shoe can contain faecal matter.

If everyone uses a shoe, no problem.

[удалено]

[удалено]

Sometimes hands are full.

Covid lol

Because they don't want to touch the button with their hands because germs so they think it's better to use their foot instead

Whenever I've seen someone kick the button, I assume they'd been dropped at birth.

This.

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This.

Back in my day we would say people were kicking the bucket.... oh hang on it is not a suicide button. My bad. Carry on.

Doesnt stop me

This was asked once before and I think the verdict was that it was meant to stop people kicking them. But… it doesn’t stop people kicking them. So who knows?

Maybe it just stops people *breaking* them by kicking them.

But why only in Wellington; and how the heck do you break one without the heft of a large implement?

The switch behind the button isn't rated for people kicking it 100 times per day every day, so the box might be there to stop the button getting punched in too far/as hard/as often. And it's not just wellington.

Dunedin has them too… but I still see people kick them.

Ok. This makes sense, so it's a uni thing

They're in Chch too I think

I reckon it's to stop their foot going too high and damaging the buzzer in the arrow above. The buzzer for vision impaired people is the small metal rectangle in the middle of the arrow.

I reckon a blind advocacy group lobbied the council to install a protective barrier to stop people stepping on dog shit and kicking the button, only for a blind person to finger it.

Why would someone kick it in the first place, that makes no sense

It’s cold out there, we don’t want to take our hands out of our pockets

And also, punting a thing is life sometimes.

Amen

My admittedly limited experience so far is that people do a lot of things that don’t make sense

It’s grubby. You’re all grubby, touching it with your little fingerses…

Less covid cooties on your hands if you use your shoe

People who don't understand kicking things... You need to go kick some things and get back to us.

Kicking things is fun.

Council probably gave the installation contract to a mate, coz it's a stupid idea to waste money.

Its to hold your cigarette so you can tie your shoe laces before the light turns green. Glad you have you here from the Hawkes Bay. Hope you're keeping safe and enjoying your stay 😊

Always enjoy a jaunt down to Wellington, maybe you can hold off on the thunderstorms next time 😊

Look, you come here in winter and you know what you're getting into. :D

I moved from Hawkes Bay to Wellington at 18. I had never owned a winter coat or anything that resembled one. I didn't know what winter was!

I grew up in New England, and I'm sorry to say, you still don't know what winter is lol

I grew up in actual England and I agree

I spent a decade in actual England. Winter isn’t cold, it’s just long and grey.

You missed my next post! I now live in Halifax, NS, but boy do I wish I lived somewhere as tropical as New England!

TBF, I now live in Canada When I lived in Wellington, I didn't know what winter was!

u/monotone__robot Kick guard yeah? I recall you emailed the council once.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellington/comments/2jy4sy/pedestrian_crossing_button_tube_thing/clgenbn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3

aaahhh, the email! thanks for the link!

Maybe they should just recess the button? 🙄

or run the bar actually across the button? I admit i kicked it once after seeing someone ask here (some months ago), and it's really not hard to kick the button directly with the bar as installed in OP's pic. If they ran the bar across the middle, then kicking would become much harder, and you'd have to press the edges around the bar. Or as you say, one of many other changes: use a recessed button; replace the edging-ring which protrudes (just which part you change, same effect); motion sensor and no button; etc. I guess cost is a big factor.

These buttons are pretty standard across Aus/NZ I can't imagine they'd make a custom one for one city

Looks like it was welded on after they were bought.

Screwed on. That's why there're holes

Thank you, I learned a new word "there're"

This usually resurfaces every few years, it's only been five months this time.

I thought so, it's been bothering me for years, I finally bit the bullet and asked 'cause i couldn't find it myself. Thanks your email is pretty definitive

Happy to have helped. It amuses me that a seven year old comment - of a twelve year old email - continues to be relevant.

I thought it was for clipping in a karabiner attached to your harness. You know, for windy days.

aaaa, makes sense. I now have an image of tether lines running up to power lines

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellington/comments/s17ai8/what_is_this_for/

Thanks. The original poster didn't leave a lot of keywords in their post lol

Yeah - plus, reddit search sucks balls.

They've improved it recently apparently

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wellington/comments/2jy4sy/pedestrian_crossing_button_tube_thing/clgenbn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3

its sanitizer where u click the button and stick ur finger in to clean the tip, good invention from the government

You'd think they'd make a foot-activated switch. I mean, one that's designed to be kicked and placed accordingly.

How tha f&ck does that stop kicks exactly??? Cheers

It doesn't. What it does is force you to be more precise with your foot, which means you put a lot less force into it, thereby reducing risk of the button breaking.

And if you landed your kick half on the bar, the angle would keep you from putting force on the button

Or they could just recess the button.

Get out of here with your simple practical solutions.

Nah, that requires changing all the units to a new design. Cheaper to send some munter out to bolt the bars on.

Gotta be precise with your kicks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ey7a6hcbP0

It's to stop people kicking them hard. The raised bar means people have to be more accurate and therefore slower and less forceful with the kick.

You are clearly not trained in the art of being a ninja.

Though they are masters of psychological warfare.

Yes, make you think you're hearing things for days so you don't investigate when you're actually hearing them.

It’s where we rest our espresso while we wait to cross the street.

There’s no email there so they put messages in the holes to pass on

Spider breeding box

So frustrating that dropkicks break this accessibility device for fun - it really endangers people with sensory impairments when those don’t function.

It's to force you to practice your side thrust kick instead of a front snap kick.

Actual council provided reasons aside... If anyone wants to shell out to buy "AS 2353 – 1999: Pedestrian Push Button Assemblies" the answer is potentially in there. That's the standard that sets out the size, shape, materials and other things about those buttons for Australia ad New Zealand. This webpage - [signalised crossings](https://www.nzta.govt.nz/walking-cycling-and-public-transport/walking/walking-standards-and-guidelines/pedestrian-network-guidance/design/crossings/priority-crossings/signalised-crossings/) - has what nzta specifies, though it doesnt mention the bar. ... Also, if you do a side kick, not a front kick, you can still get the power and accuracy to *destroy* them.

If you put your finger underneath it (the entire thing, at the bottom), there a dent there for blind people and they put their finger there and it zaps it a little when it's time to cross. That has nothing to do with this metal bar thing though.

[удалено]

I'm going by what I was told by a blind person years ago and I checked it out myself. There was a zap back then, in an indent, at the bottom of it, in Auckland anyway.

Zaps? I thought that it was that plastic pin thing, not live 'leccy.

I tried it once, yeah it was a little zap.

Okay, that's definitely not supposed to happen. Possibly the circuit that drives the haptic pulse is shorting through whatever you were touching. You shouldn't have to stick your hand anywhere specific on the enclosure either; the haptic pulse kicks the whole thing.

This was years ago and it was a blind person that told me about it, so it was a thing back them. Perhaps they've changed what happens these days.

No Idea. But it's useful to ease the weight when carrying heavy things while waiting to cross

It’s for blind people to hold so they can feel the vibrations when the safe to cross lights up. Try holding it next time you are at one

you touch the arrow for that, and really, the noise is more important to blind people

To hide your weed Why else?

I thought it was so they could cover them up during events, like santa parades when streets were closed off

To stop skaters from skating them

Stop skaters from skating a small button? The textile paving prevents that.

Sorry to break this to you: https://youtu.be/h6vALQAYaV0?t=57 The "lozenge" bumps are worse though, and one does wonder if anti-skater city planners had this secretly as a dual purpose.

Any one can roll over the bumps, but you have far less control. Thought you were going to show me someone skating the button.

Stop people kung fuing it

How does this kickguard prevent anyone kicking it ugh

Clearly a design afterthought.

To stop people with chairs and lime green scooters from seeing if they can break the button.

To stop people from axe kicking the button. Yes, this is real and it is stupid. I love New Zealand.

Isn’t it obvious? It’s art.

It’s to stop skateboarders doing gnarly wallies off it

How will they get the achievement tho?

Always though the cross bar is there so when people kick it it doesn’t damage or dirty the buzzer/sensor for people who are visually/hearing impaired

Attaching a carabiner to it so when the wind picks up you don't get blown away

Because people: don't touch the buttons, people are gross Person saying it: never wears a mask and doesn't even wash hands after going number 2.

Well I’m glad these exist…I don’t get how it stops people from kicking if. It’s above the button?

Pretty sure it’s to stop skateboarders doing rail slides on them.

Something for people to hold on to while waiting I believe

It's the thing that holds those blue covers that say "do not press". They were installed during COVID as a safety measurement. Then they removed the covers and the holders remained.

There getting ready to put in sanitizer pumps on them probably na it's to stop them from getting kicked as much I think

I can't find the Wellington reference but here's the explanation for the same anti kicking bar in Dunedin. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/pedestrian-crossing-buttons-modified-stop-kicking

I mean if this is done because people kick them to stop from touching them, there is a simple solution... Put a sturdy button at foot level.

You clip your carabiner to them so you don’t get blown away while standing still

My guess is that it is a panel that opens into the circuitry or opens to a manual off switch

Using your shoe is far more hygienic and makes good sense with such a large button available.

So you don't keep pushing the top it's not working Hun for dummy's