Silent crossing sparks anger
No bleeps ‘utter nonsense’ say fed-up locals
Audible signals for the new pedestrian crossings in Blairgowrie’s Wellmeadow will not be switched on.
That’s according to officers from Perth and Kinross Council (PKC), whose decision was reported at the latest meeting of Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Council (BRCC), held recently in the town’s Adult Resource Centre.
Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Bob Ellis said that representatives from the local authority’s contractor responsible for the crossings, Siemens, spent an hour on site testing various aspects of the lights and the audible signals.
Following the testing, Councillor Ellis reported that the advice from Siemens was to keep the ‘bleeps’ switched off for safety reasons.
He said: “The conclusion was that you can hear the ‘bleeps’ when you are standing at other crossings which could confuse those who rely on them into crossing when it is not safe.”
Community councillors were also shown a letter from the Centre for Inclusive Living Perth and Kinross supporting the decision and pointing out that there are other measures are in place at the lights - such as tactile paving and rotating cones - to help people cross the road safely.
However, community councillors seemed to disagree with the decision.
BRCC chair Morag Young said: “With no ‘bleeping’ or highly-visible green man, how are people supposed to trust the lights? People just think they are broken, particularly when the crossings in Rattray and in Blairgowrie High Street at Sainsbury’s ‘bleep’. It’s not acceptable.
“The council has gone back on its word – these lights are not what we were told we would be getting, and we were also told the council would trial various timings and systems.”
Mrs Young also hit out at the council for organising a site visit without informing the community council.
She said: “Having done nothing about this issue for several months and then convened a meeting and site visit at short notice, and without informing us, is just utter nonsense.
“We asked for the green man to be moved, and for different audio levels to be trialled, and that was agreed to but, again, they [PKC] have gone back on their word.”
Community councillors also stated they had been assured that the lights would not change while people were still crossing the road – or if someone fell and was lying in the road – before citing examples where this had clearly not been the case.
In a statement, a spokesperson for PKC said: “When installing a new pedestrian crossing, there is the option to install an audible signal to alert visually impaired pedestrians of when it is safe to cross. While this is a preferable option, it cannot always be installed for safety reasons.
“In this instance, the crossings in question are very close together and pedestrians at one crossing would be able to hear the ‘bleeper’ operating from the others.
“We have trialled the ‘bleeper’ signal at the crossings with local elected members,
the Centre for Inclusive Living Perth and Kinross and our traffic signal maintenance contractor present and this test confirmed that the signal could be heard from other crossing points even at its lowest volume.
“Clearly for people with a visual impairment this is a public safety concern as it could lead to pedestrians trying to cross when it is in fact not safe to do so.
“As an alternative aid for visually impaired pedestrians, there are also small rotating cones located under each push button unit. These cones begin to rotate when the green man is activated, alerting pedestrians that it is safe to begin crossing.
“This feature is installed on all traffic signal junctions and pedestrian crossings to aid pedestrians and is commonly known within the visually-impaired community.”