A zone near me has two different sign indicator systems. They appear to go off at different intervals. In both cases I don't see humans around. I would not be surprised if the time the crossing guards and children were present was a completely different, third time.
Did you try to google for it? Did you look up the actual laws where you are?
It isn't hard to find the answer. If you're in California, then Vehicle Code 22352 defines it. The same will be true for every other place in the world.
That's a fair point. I grew up in Washington, where I believe it was not defined at all. It was a bit of a hobby of mine to look up vehicular RCWs when I began driving, and the Internet was available.
But it's also possible it's something that puzzled me pre-Internet, and I never bothered to look up post-Internet. There are plenty of those as well.
I asked a CHP officer once and they said "In or near the crosswalks, including sidewalks near crosswalks." Note that police officers are not necessarily up on all of the intricacies of the law though.
