Rob is blowing a whistle, over and over.
Bob: “Why are you blowing that whistle, Rob?”
Rob: “To keep the dragons away.”
Bob: “I see no dragons.”
Rob: “It works!”
Rob is blowing a whistle, over and over.
Bob: “Why are you blowing that whistle, Rob?”
Rob: “To keep the dragons away.”
Bob: “I see no dragons.”
Rob: “It works!”
Some? In my area all the lights require a button press for a walk cycle. Even if the traffic lights turn red for the cars (e.g. in an intersection for cross-traffic), the pedestrian lights will stay red too unless the button was pressed.
Certainly around my area in a UK city there are plenty which automatically go to a green man even if no button was pressed. This is usually the case on more complicated intersections where in order to keep traffic flowing correctly that pedestrian crossing would be free at some point anyway, so they just put the green man cycle on by default. Of course they still put a button for pedestrian-satisfying reasons!
In my area (San Francisco Bay Area) it depends on how much pedestrian traffic is expected. I live in the suburbs and, as I said, the walking light only goes on if the button is pressed. But if I go to San Francisco itself, lights are all on a timer (and there are no buttons at all).