Technically you don't need to press the button in most cases because the cross walk light is timed to go on by itself. However, as most drivers are not aware of is that there are also a lot of FAKE cross walk lights around town. They simply never change even if you press the button. Though I do agree there are a lot of people that do cross against the light and they shouldn't do that. But there is a serious issue with all the PHONEY cross walk lights that don't actually change ever. You just get this Orange/Red hand thing all the time. Sometimes I pres the button repeated if it doesn't change but still nothing happens. Then when it does change it only gives me like 5 seconds to cross the street. It changes from the white hand to the redish/orange again before I'm even half way across the street. And in some cases there is more than two lanes.