Cecilia B. Ojoawo

October 21, 2002

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my concern about the current Audio Traffic Signal
(ATS) bill without the amendment. I am a blind woman and a white cane user. I use public transportation at all time and I am very familiar with the city of Boston. There is no doubt that ATS is helpful. But it is only in some streets and not in all intercessions. For example there is ATS on Commonwealth Avenue on BU Central on the Green line. Those ATS are very helpful But those ATS that are in Watertown squares are very confusing. Because this place is a square, The ATS, a lot of them ring at the same time and the blind person has no clue of which street is safe to cross.

If the current bill is passed without the amendment proposed by National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the cost of ATS in all the intercession will be enormous and it will not be a money well spent. It is better to allow each city to make its own decision regarding which intercession needs ATS. All that I am saying is that all intercessions DON'T require ATS. Blind people have been crossing the streets carefully without ATS on all streets and we will continue to do so. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,
Cecilia B. Ojoawo