I think they are meant for people to believe they do something so they’ll feel better and wait. I used to walk a lot and encounter lots of crosswalk with buttons and I got used to how fast I should go in order to catch green every time and I could predict when the next crosswalk was going to turn green. If they truly worked then they should have been out of sync. I never pushed the buttons and I saw the light turning green even though no one pushed the button, if the buttons worked then why would the light turn green?
I also asked gemini about this and he said I’m not going insane, strange because I never mentioned if I was insane or not, but good to know I’m not.
Maybe some buttons work and other don’t depending on where it is?
The buttons are prominently there to meet ADA (Americans with disabilities Act) or ACA (Accessable Canada Act).
Buttons at intersections help people with mobility issues to cross at dedicated crosswalks or crossways safely, most buttons extend the cross time when pressed.
For people that have visual imperments the buttons will generally activate a chirp sound, which helps with a “haptic feedback” of where crosswalks might be or in which direction to proceed.
Anyways, they have become so ubiquitous that’s they are pretty much expected everywhere, so much so that people don’t see them as accessible infrastructure (which is a pretty good thing TBH).