bill, Even as a cane user, I recognize this problem, especially as there is little consistancy in where they put the stupid buttons.
There is actually no "current" flowing in the button till you push it, only a voltage present. the only devices I know of that will detect a voltage need to be nearly against the wire before they find it. so by the time you get that close you allready found it with your little blind haptors. Also, there are lots of other wires about with street lighting etc. to confuse any gizmo. Of course some of the accessible light systems have the button beep all the time so you know it's there, but that doesn't help where there isn't an accessible signal. So, after going through all this restatement of the problem, I can't think of a way to find the particular pole with button, except some kind of camera/computer based device such as a cell phone with modified software. Even then you'd have to scan the darned thing every time you wondered if there might be a button. We actually have a group working on cell phone based software to analyze/find weird cross walks, and try to figure out unusual intersections, I'll put this problem in there ear and see what they think. Don't hold your breath. P.S. I had fun once when talking to a traffic signal manufacturer about accessible signals. He was calling those things pedestrian aids. I said, no, they don't help me, they help the cars cause when I don't push the button, the cars get more time. In a world that wasn't biased against pedestrians, every body would get a fair shake all the time without having to find a stupid button and ask for it. Stopped the signal manufacturer in his tracks, He had to agree I was right. In conclusion, I don't see any way of finding the buttons with currently available technology. Sorry Tom Fowle
