In Ireland and the UK they sound like a smoke alarm. When the man turns green it goes “BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP”, except in Dublin for some reason, where it’s faster and not as grating and goes like “bipbipbipbipbipbip”.

Do they sound different in your country? Or does it vary by region?

10 comments

  1. I have a nerdy and abiding interest in pedestrian crossing sounds. Discovered on holiday in Boston last year that when you press the button a stern man’s voice says “WAIT.” So I would keep pressing it to do a DJ mixup. “WAIT. WAIT. WAI-WAI-WAIT.”

    Visiting friends in the Netherlands (Amsterdam) the crossings go “Boop….Boop….Boop….Boop” slowly and rhythmically while you wait, to psych you up for the crossing. Then when it’s time they go “BOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOOBOO” frantically to encourage you to get over to the other side quickly before the onslaught of bicycles recommences. Loved it.

  2. Lol as if Brussels had pedestrian crossing noises.

    Most of our streets have either roundabouts or extremely awkward 76-jillion-way intersections.

    Where there *are* traffic lights, the usual noise sounds a bit like gunfire – DFFDFFDFFDFF – but there’s (predictably) no way of knowing which direction is green and which direction is red.

    Brussels generally fails pretty badly when it comes to accessibility.

  3. There is one crossing near the top of Leith Walk in Edinburgh where they experimented with a loud female recorded voice that said “The traffic coming FROM Princes Street has been signalled to STOP”. It was entertaining to watch drunks who didn’t know about it falling over in shock. They kept it for about 20 years.

  5. We have a old fashioned mechanical rattle sound that is not very intrusive or disturbing here in the Netherlands. Don’t know whether that’s because it once was mechanical or something, it’s been this way since I can remember just like other help for the blind has always been there.

  6. No sounds in germany except you press a button underneath the actual touch button to get a green light or vibration for blind people.
    It’s a really smooth ‘beep beep beep’ to give blind people the sign to safely cross the street.

    At least in my hometown. Maybe this isn’t the same in any state or city.

  7. It’s like knocks, tak tak tak tak.
    I once lived over a junction with this stuff, it’s very annoying since it does the same noise at 1am and throughout the night when everything’s quiet.
    Just thinking about it makes me angry.

  8. I met up with a Canadian friend on her first day in the UK. I live in Edinburgh, but by coincidence I happened to be working in London on the day that she flew into Heathrow. We met in South Kensington (as that was near where she was staying) for dinner and walked towards Westminster in the evening.

    We got to Buckingham Palace and did all the touristy photos and stuff. She randomly said something like “oh is that because they’re jaywalking?”. I had no idea what she was talking about so I just did the normal British thing and just let it go in one ear and out the other. A minute later she said “It’s happening again! Is that a security thing for the palace?”

    At this point I asked what she meant. Apparently she was confused by the beeping at the crossing behind us – she thought it was an alarm. That’s not a thing in Canada. I’m so used to it that I didn’t even register the noise was happening at all.

  9. It’s different in every place, and some cities have multiple different models, it seems.

    The one next to my street goes töööööö with creaky voice. There is another downtown (maybe with a louder crossing, more traffic) that goes TLOCK TLOCK TLOCK TLOCK with a hollow-ish timbre as if from a bell. It reminds me of something else, but I don’t know what. Loke when you pulled something up from deep and let it fall down again.

  10. Here it sounds like a hammer beating a firm piece of metal, or a metronome:

    > *TAK – TAK – TAK – TAK*

    When the light is green, it just beat faster:

    > *TAKTAKTAKTAKTAKTAKTAKTAK*

    [The manufacturer has the sounds on their website](https://www.prismatibro.se/en/da-sound/). Plus a few alternative sounds, including the Danish standard.

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