Access For Sight Impaired ConsumersAccess For Sight Impaired ConsumersTraffic control signals began to appear on early American streets as early as the 1880's, pioneered by such manufacturers as Streeter Amet, Crouse-Hinds, Sarasota Technologies, Traconex Corporation, Multisonics Corporation, Transyt, TCT, and many others. Reported in the United States as early as the 1920's, audible pedestrian signals (APS) did not begin to populate the Canadian landscape until the late 1960's and early 1970's.
Initial Canadian installations comprised of a pedestrian activated pushbutton assembly mounted on a utility pole in close proximity to the "departure curb" of a marked crosswalk. Bird-type tones were emitted from a speaker mounted either atop the ped-head (the "walk/don't walk" visual signal) or higher up the utility pole so as not to have the tones blocked by passing traffic.
The request for APS installations at specific locations usually originated from pedestrians who were blind or sight-impaired or by rehabilitation organizations providing service to these individuals. As a result, initial installations appeared in very close proximity to these rehabilitation venues and/or near schools dedicated to teaching blind students.
APS devices which produced two distinctly different tones a cuckoo tone for crossings in a north/south direction and a chirp tone for crossings in an east/west direction, were originally researched, developed and manufactured in Nagoya, Japan. These intermittent tones were emitted from the pole-mounted speaker(s) for a short duration to coincide with the illuminated "walk" signal from the ped-head. But early installations generated numerous complaints regarding the "offensive noise" being emitted by this new technology by residents who lived or worked in close proximity to these devices. To appease these neighbours, traffic engineers would respond by decreasing the volume of the "walk" tones. Unfortunately, this invoked counter-requests from pedestrians who had come to rely on these devices, asking the traffic engineers to increase the volumes as they were unable to hear or obtain any useful benefit from the device given its reduced volume levels. The tug of war had begun and traffic engineers were clearly caught in the middle!
As time marched on, other APS manufacturers began to introduce their products to Canada. These included products from manufacturers such as:
Campbell Company 211 West 37th Street, Suite C Boise Idaho 83706
Mallory Sonalert Products, Inc . 7545 Rockville Road Indianapolis, IN 46214
Novax Industries Corporation 658 Derwent Way New Westminster BC V3M 5P8, Canada
Panich Consultancy Pty. Ltd. 48 Church Street, PO Box 360 Ryde NSW 2112, Australia
Peek Traffic Corporation 2906 Corporate Way Palmetto, FL 34221
Polara Engineering Inc. 9153 Stellar Court Corona, CA 92883
Prisma Teknik AB P.O. Box 5 , S-543 21 Tibro, Sweden
Wilcox Sales 1738 Finecroft Dr. Claremont, CA 91711
However, regardless of the manufacturer, all APS devices which employed a pole-mounted speaker above the crosswalk or roadway, addressed many of the frustrating issues for pedestrians who were blind or sight-impaired. These frustrations included, but were not limited to:
In the mid-to-late 1990's, a few of the more innovative APS manufacturers began to address the numerous shortcomings of their audible pedestrian signal designs. A new generation of APS devices was emerging, modelled after the integrated designs being offered by European and Australian manufacturers. These new, integrated systems became quickly known as "accessible pedestrian signals". These new accessible pedestrian signal devices (also tagged as "APS") provided many attractive features through an integreted design which incorporated the output speaker into the pushbutton assembly. The primary advantage of this design is that it placed the speaker within the immediate proximity of the pedestrian who needed or relied on this device. It resulted in a significant reduction in the volume outputs which only needed to be heard by pedestrians who were within a 3.5 metre radius of the pushbutton assembly. Additional features include:
As APS technology evolves, it is not Access for Sight-Impaired Consumers' position to endorse any one manufacturer over another. Polara Engineering's APS devices are examples of devices that meet the needs of pedestrians who are blind or sight-impaired. Their Navigator II and Model X products, the latter device being designed for "special crosswalks" (equipped with pedestrian-activated flashing amber lights), are devices that have been successfully implemented.
Finally, it is important to note the value of consistency. There are recommended settings, tones and messages for APS devices. Regardless of which APS device a city or municipality chooses to use, we would work collaboratively to ensure the implementation of a uniform standard.