I've been to Germany twice now: Once to Berlin and once to Bielefeld.
Both places had these yellow boxes with the same pattern at pedestrian crossings.
At first I thought they were to press for crossing, but there doesn't seem to be any way to actually press them so I'm confused as to what their role is.
What exactly are they for?
They are an aid for the visually and aurally impaired.
They vibrate when the light turns green.
They are for the visual impaired people. Source
The symbol means:
2 Black Dots on top, and 1 on the bottom mean that the person wearing the symbol is visually impaired, 1 black dot on the top, and 2 on the bottom show that the person is deaf.
There's a button on the bottom:
Despite what many would think now, the button doesn’t make the light turn green any faster. What it does do is vibrate when the light turns green, and in some cases it even prolongs the time that the light stays green.
It's for visually impaired pedestrians. There is a button on the bottom of the box. Some of them are vibrating and others are beeping to indicate when you can cross the road.
