City upgrading traffic signals to aid the visually impaired
New system would engage voice message that identifies street, counts down time
There’s been a few missed signals over how a new audio system that helps the visually impaired cross intersections in the city actually works.
Several residents called Windsor’s 311 hotline recently to say the audio feature wasn’t functioning at two traffic signals located near Lions Manor on Strabane Avenue.
Lions Manor is a 150-unit building that’s home to a number of visually impaired tenants who rely on audio enhancements to safely negotiate the intersections of Strabane at Wyandotte Street and again at Riverside Drive.
A mobility instructor with the local office of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and community activist Peter Best plan to hold an information session on the system at Lions Manor in the near future.
“This system is new and individuals really need to learn how to operate it properly,” said Best, who worked with city administration to upgrade the old system of beeps and chirps.
Best, who is visually impaired himself, serves as the chair of the Windsor Accessibility Advisory Committee.
“We need to develop a Windsor standard,” he said. “We want all signals to be the same so when you approach a signal you know how to use it.”
Seven of the city’s 300 signals are equipped with an audible pedestrian signal (APS), with an eighth coming soon to the corner of Pillette Road and Wyandotte Street.
With the old system, a pedestrian pushed a button to engage the signal to either chirp or beep when the walk sign is visible.
Under the new system, a person needs to let their hand hover over the button for two seconds to engage a voice message that actually identifies the street and provides a countdown for crossing.
John Wolf, the city’s manager of traffic operations, said the new system eliminates any confusion over which direction a person is heading.
The old method used a chirp sound for one direction and a beep for the corner’s other direction.
“We’re in the process of upgrading all the APS to the new style with a voice message,” he said.
He stressed when a traffic signal is being upgraded, the old chirp and beep system works in parallel with the new voice system.
A signal is never left silent during an upgrade and the old system is only removed after all work is completed, he added.
Currently, four signals have the voice system in place at a cost of $9,000 per signal.
Wolf said the city and WAAC are sharing the cost of upgrading.
The CNIB website recommends that “all intersections with traffic control signals should be augmented with APS devices,” and over time Wolf says that will happen in Windsor.
“Eventually over the course of many years you’ll see them at every intersection,” he said.
A spokesperson for CNIB’s provincial office said the number of APS signals in Ontario communities isn’t known.
Best says audible signals are imperative for the visually impaired and the community at large.
“These signals are an important tool for safety,” he said. “It gives those who are visually impaired their independence and it gives others awareness.”