In a modern "multicultural" society governments are constantly spending money to accommodate the wishes of a small minority of the population. As far as these kind of accommodations go this one does not seem all that extreme being that it doesn’t infringe upon the rights of the majority of individuals, and does not exclude anyone from using what they have built.

rtfa people. That 8 million pound reference regarded the total cost of renovations being done in that area, and how this accommodation proved insignificant compared to that cost

Hehe, I used to live pretty much there....

Anyway, that is a really Jewish area, so I think it will be appreciated, but most traffic lights I use in London don't require you to press a button anyway, although with the creation of the eruv they have already started pushing the boundaries a little

The eruv extends the boundaries of the household so that they can technically move around more freely

Also, before criticism of Judaism, this is a rule only observed by a minority anyway, though a silly one nonetheless I feel

aren't they using the trafic lights by just looking and obeying the red and green light ... dont they work using electricity? they don't press the button but they use the electricity... this is just stupid...
when torah was written (400BC) did they knew that we would have electricity in the future? they have a book with rules... they are doing it wrong if they are messing with it by modernize the rules that dont originally exist... humans and their megalomania!

This is wrong. Our society shouldn't adapt to foreign cultures, it's the other way around.

I've noticed a lot of hostility towards Jews on this site (not just this thread); the op seems very interested in them.

What an odd law. How does not using leccy and machinery help you to become one with God? Meh, well, their choice I guess.

the thing is, if it isn't timed, but really with a hands free sensor, then they are still "operating" it.

way to cheat your god, like hiding meat in dough on fridays

(some of) You people are really offensive on this thread.

What's the problem? As far as I understood, the system generally works like most pedestrian traffic lights I know:
Pedestrians who want to cross the road need to press a button so they get green.

Because of the many orthodox jews in that area, they decided to slightly change the traffic light's control logic:
On Sabbath, the pedestrian traffic light will periodically turn green even if the button hasn't been pressed.

This should really only be slight changes in software that comes at no additional cost, so what's the big deal?

Anyway, I must say that strict orthodox judaism has by far the weirdest and most restricting religious rules I've ever heard of. I think I will never understand how some people can possibly voluntarily obey them. Some of their religious rules seem so bizarre and antiquated that in comparison, even the Amish look like people from the 22nd century...