Daniel Tonge
|
October 21, 2002 |
I am a totally blind person, 51 years old. I have been an independent traveler
for 22 years, and intersection signals have changed tremendously over my
traveling years. One of the basic tenants of blind gravel is listening for the
traffic, in order to know when it is safe to cross the street. Of course, this
relies upon the premise that motorists are obeying the signals. There are a
growing number of intersections which allow turning traffic at the same time
pedestrians can walk. This makes it practically impossible to determine the
status of the signal by simply listening to the traffic. Accessible pedestrian
signals (not on every corner) are necessary to allow us as blind people to have
direct input (as do sighted persons). We also need to know if and where there
are push buttons to control the walk signal. The buttons are not uniformly
located a certain distance from the crosswalk, so those intersections need to
have beeps or some other method to allow us to know that there is a button and
to know where it is.
Thank you for taking the time to read this note. Please vote to approve the
recommends in the PROWAC Report.
Dan
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