mixed signals

Almost got knocked down at a pedestrian crossing the other day, and would have been completely my fault - set off across the road when the red man was still standing resolutely at attention. It's not even as if I wasn't watching him, but I still managed to misread the most basic and well learned set of signals in modern society - wait for the green man!

How could I have managed it?! What I realised had happened was when I pressed the button on the traffic light to summon said individual, an orange message popped up below the red man opposite. It actually said "green's coming" but the problem was, this red+orange combination is exactly what you get at Austrian traffic lights for cars, to indicate green really a second or two imminent and you can start revving up. Being more conditioned to seeing the lights from a car's perspective, this signalling combination triggered my 'start moving forward'response - and I only realised my mistake when halfway across the road and the written part sank in!

I wouldn't mind, but at the next set of lights, while I was still pondering the first incident, and my stupidity, it almost happen again. Red+orange, click, whirr, my brain revved me up to move.

Think says something slightly interesting about how we are conditioned by modern signalling to have automatic responses, and the dangers for mixing similar symbols in the wrong domains. And just show's even having the message 'green is coming' spelled out (literally) in front of me couldn't compete with the more basic colour flags I react to day in day out.

Just shows, no interface is fool (or conditioned fool) proof...