The City of San Francisco has pledged to spend at least $1.6 million over the next two and a half years to install accessible pedestrian signals.

The state-of-the art signaling devices will assist visually impaired pedestrians by emit­ting a rapid ticking sound in tandem with the familiar WALK symbol displayed for sighted pedestrians. Other accessibility features include locator tones and vibrating pushbuttons to help those with visual impairments locate the devices, and the ability to provide helpful audible infor­mation such as street names when pedestrians press the pushbutton for one second or longer.

The agreement between the city and repre­sentatives for people who are blind and visually impaired was reached through a collaborative process known as structured negotiations. It represents the first of its kind in the nation, ac­cording to advocates for the blind and visually impaired community.

Under the agreement, the city will:

• Install the new signals at no fewer than 80 intersections before the end of 2009
• Seek additional fund­ing for more installations
• Develop a policy for San Francisco residents to request acces­sible pedestrian signals at other intersections

“We commend San Francisco for being the first public entity in the United States to volun­tarily sign a comprehensive agreement regard­ing accessible pedestrian signals devices that are critical for pedestrian safety,” said Anita Aaron, Executive Director of the LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

In addition to the City, parties to the agreement are the Cal­ifornia Council of the Blind, the LightHouse for the Blind and Visu­ally Impaired, the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco, and Damien Pickering, a blind individual.

In the negotiations, the blind and visually impaired community was represented by well-known and highly respected disability rights lawyers Lainey Feingold and Linda M. Dardar­ian.

Source: REMODELING Magazine, Publication date: November 1, 2007 [ return to top ]