Lack of an audible crosswalk signal led to collision, legally blind man says
A man who is blind and hard of hearing says he was struck by a vehicle in a Surrey intersection where the audible crosswalk signal had been removed due to construction.
Moslem Rasuli said he doesn't understand exactly what happened after he tried to cross the road at the intersection of 80th Avenue and 120A Street in early February.
“I woke up in an ambulance,” he said.
A paramedic told him he'd been hit by a car.
Rasuli, an economics student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, said he's had difficulty accessing treatment for injuries to his legs after the accident, a situation that shows the gaps in support for people with disabilities in B.C.
Rasuli said he began to lose his sight when he was 15 and uses a mobility cane. He also wears hearing aids. He was born and raised in Surrey near the intersection where he was struck.
On Feb. 2, he stood for about a minute assessing the sound of traffic before starting to cross. Under normal circumstances, he said he would activate the audible crosswalk signal by pushing a button, but it had been removed about six months prior during construction at the intersection. Although he believes the work was finished at least a month before he was hit, the signal had not yet been reinstalled.
Rasuli said he heard no cars, and then heard a car going parallel to him. Using that information, he began to walk. “I don't know anything about what happened next. I lost five minutes of my life,” he said.
Rasuli said he suffered a concussion and struggled to walk in the days after the accident. He still has leg pain and panic attacks.
He said that when he tried to access physio or other treatment for his injuries, ICBC said it could not process his claim without a police report. He said he contacted Surrey RCMP, but did not hear back for three weeks. He was then told a report had been made to ICBC.
“ICBC has told me if I want treatment, I need to pay myself and when — or if — I get approved, I will get reimbursed,” he said. “I have mentioned to them that I am receiving disability income, and that it's not possible for me to pay.”
In a statement, Surrey RCMP Sgt. Tammy Lobb said police responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle on Feb. 2. One person was treated for minor injuries, and the driver remained on scene. “Generally speaking, it is part of our regular process to forward information to ICBC following a motor vehicle incident. The time frame within which ICBC becomes notified ... depends on the circumstances and the documentation required,” she said.
Rasuli said the accident has left him anxious and depressed. More than a month after he was injured, it is still painful for him to walk.
“Now when I leave home, I walk at a snail's pace. When I get to an intersection, I wait two cycles, just in case,” he said.
When he reaches the middle of a crosswalk, his heart begins to pound.
Rasuli said the city reinstalled the audible crosswalk signal at the intersection in the middle of February. He believes the sound is softer than it used to be. One of the buttons on the pole, which features a tactile arrow that is meant to distinguish which crosswalk is actuated by the button, is misaligned, and “if I followed the arrow, I would be in the road,” he said.
In a statement, the city said it is aware of the collision and is investigating. It did not confirm or explain why the audible signal was not working when Rasuli was hit.
On its website, the City of Surrey said it uses an internationally recognized standard of bird sounds for its audible crosswalk signals, including a cuckoo sound when the north-south walk light is active, and a chirp-chirp sound when the east-west walk light is active.
The city installs them “as part of every new signal installation and signal rebuild project to enhance safety for all road users.”
The volume is set to balance the “ability to hear the sound at the intersection and the potential disruptive noise to the neighbouring residents and businesses.” An automatic volume adjustment mechanism is responsive to ambient noise levels.
Rasuli said he's found variations in the types of accessible pedestrians signals used in various Metro Vancouver communities. For example, in Surrey, a certain raised road marking delineates a bus stop. In Vancouver and Coquitlam, the same markings are used at intersections.
“In Vancouver and Coquitlam, I think I am waiting for a bus and I'm just standing at an intersection,” he said. “You don't change stop signs from city to city — they're still red, still an octagon, so this doesn't make sense.”