Cross walk button

As I sat in the park near my work today sunning myself while taking a much needed break, I watched runners, walkers and bikers stream by in front of me. Not too far to my left was crosswalk where many of them would stop to push the button and head south.

I could hear them slam their palms against the button to activate the signal and as I listened, i noticed that each and every one hit it twice.

That got me to wondering why they did that. Why twice? What is the point of doing that when once is all it takes?

Is that like waving a polaroid frantically in the air...just a way to pass the time knowing good and well that it makes no difference at all in speeding up the process?

Hmm...something to ponder.