As a NYC woman, I only experienced this recently on a WomanTours trip in Virginia. I crossed on a private ferry just off the C&O trail (I think I'm remembering that correctly) and somehow dilly-dallied and missed all the cars going through the light. Took me a while to figure out what the problem was. I couldn't find the sensor and I ended up having to wait until the ferry arrived again and unloaded some cars which then triggered the light to change.

Ha, ha, that's a light I won't forget for a while!