Dear Board,

My name is Steve Jenkins, President of the Flatirons Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind (NFBC) which meets in Boulder, Colorado on the first Saturday of each month. We have had some discussions about the "Crosswalk Signals" and the rules that the Board is proposing. It appears from a users standpoint that the rules will disregard the wishes of the end users in spite of themselves. We have come to the conclusions that on occasions and only when requested should "Tactile Warnings" be installed. NEVER and under NO circumstances should "Audio Signals" be used and definitely not on "Every" corner where a Traffic light appears should a crosswalk light of any sort be placed. One of the problems several of our members and I myself am included in this is the more noise you add to a single area the more distorted the sound becomes. This in the long run becomes the hazard that you are trying to avoid. The other big problem seems that the people that are in charge of ordering the crosswalk signals and the people who are requesting the signals are not aware of the Tactile crosswalk signals. I would like to reiterate that as a chapter and as blind human beings who are quite capable of taking care of ourselves and our needs we do not want or need mandates in place requiring "Audio Crosswalk Signals". If you must put something in place please make it Tactile signals and only where requested.

Respectfully submitted,
Steven C. Jenkins, President
Flatirons Chapter of the NFBC

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