Good New Year!!I was in Montreal over the New Year and noticed that there were few APS in the old part of the city which was not surprising, but I also did not see them in the newer section of the city in particular near the Olympic park complex and botanical garden area. My question to O&M instructors in particular is your experience traveling to other countries and what they have in place as far as accessible traffic lights? Valery 

Good observations Valery. Do you mean push-buttons at traffic lights or anything put in place for travelers with a visual impairment at a traffic light? In India and Pakistan, no such thing that I saw. Even if there was I wouldn’t feel comfortable using it given my lack of being able to figure out how traffic works there. Cuba had some pedestrian crossing signals that most drivers respected. But that was in the touristy part of Havana. Once you get away from the big city there seem to be less and less pedestrian aids. From: Intlglobal [mailto:intlglobal-bounces@lists.aerbvi.org] On Behalf Of Valery Herring via Intlglobal Sent: Tuesday, January 2, 2018 8:28 PM To: intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org Subject: [Intlglobal] In Canada recently Good New Year!! I was in Montreal over the New Year and noticed that there were few APS in the old part of the city which was not surprising, but I also did not see them in the newer section of the city in particular near the Olympic park complex and botanical garden area. My question to O&M instructors in particular is your experience traveling to other countries and what they have in place as far as accessible traffic lights? Valery

Hi Valery, New Zealand and Australia have similar accessible pedestrian signals as in the U.S. plus different styles of truncated domes, which I thought was cool. In Indonesia, there were hardly any traffic lights much less traffic signals. Same in Sri Lanka - however there was a light by the school for the blind. That light apparently once had an APS, but was not operating when I was there. Spencer Churchill On Tue, Jan 2, 2018 at 6:28 PM, Valery Herring via Intlglobal < intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org> wrote: > Good New Year!! > I was in Montreal over the New Year and noticed that there were few APS in > the old part of the city which was not surprising, but I also did not see > them in the newer section of the city in particular near the Olympic park > complex and botanical garden area. My question to O&M instructors in > particular is your experience traveling to other countries and what they > have in place as far as accessible traffic lights? > Valery > > _______________________________________________ > Intlglobal mailing list > Intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org > http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/intlglobal_lists.aerbvi.org > >

My big concern about accessible traffic signals is that they fit the Universal Design principles of making life better for everyone. The ones I am familiar with here in Chicago make a uniform punctuation that sounds like incessant water torture. Makes me feel crazy just crossing the street - I can’t imagine what the neighbors feel like who have to live near them. I think it is so important to keep the general public as allies in our quest to make intersections accessible. There are plenty of wonderful sounds that could be used. Think about the “swish” of email as it sends. I would love to be part of a research group or urban planning team that develops these, if anyone has any contacts. Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 3, 2018, at 2:26 PM, Spencer Churchill <spencerthomaschurchill@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi Valery, > > New Zealand and Australia have similar accessible pedestrian signals as in the U.S. plus different styles of truncated domes, which I thought was cool. > > In Indonesia, there were hardly any traffic lights much less traffic signals. Same in Sri Lanka - however there was a light by the school for the blind. That light apparently once had an APS, but was not operating when I was there. > > > Spencer Churchill > >> On Tue, Jan 2, 2018 at 6:28 PM, Valery Herring via Intlglobal <intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org> wrote: >> Good New Year!! >> I was in Montreal over the New Year and noticed that there were few APS in the old part of the city which was not surprising, but I also did not see them in the newer section of the city in particular near the Olympic park complex and botanical garden area. My question to O&M instructors in particular is your experience traveling to other countries and what they have in place as far as accessible traffic lights? >> Valery >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Intlglobal mailing list >> Intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org >> http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/intlglobal_lists.aerbvi.org >> > > _______________________________________________ > Intlglobal mailing list > Intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org > http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/intlglobal_lists.aerbvi.org

Hi Kevin, As you mentioned, traffic rules are very different in the Indian sub-continent than they are here. Due to the extreme volume of traffic in urban areas coupled with the lack of light-controlled and stop-sign controlled intersections and occasional power outages, vehicles simply pull out in front of each other. If they do not do this, they will never get anywhere. Similarly, I found that pedestrians attempting to cross a busy street with no traffic controls and only a marked crosswalk will step out in hopes that the vehicles stop. I also noticed that, even at light-controlled intersections, there are often traffic police to assist in keeping the traffic flowing and helping pedestrians to cross. I have observed that, when there is a pedestrian signal and marked crosswalk, it is not always at the correct place (e.g. several yards back from where the vehicles stop) which makes it even more of a challenge for someone who is blind to attempt to cross the street. Janet Cloaninger On Wed, Jan 3, 2018 at 2:47 PM, Kevin D McCormack < Kevin.McCormack001@umb.edu> wrote: > Good observations Valery. > > > > Do you mean push-buttons at traffic lights or anything put in place for > travelers with a visual impairment at a traffic light? In India and > Pakistan, no such thing that I saw. Even if there was I wouldn’t feel > comfortable using it given my lack of being able to figure out how traffic > works there. Cuba had some pedestrian crossing signals that most drivers > respected. But that was in the touristy part of Havana. Once you get away > from the big city there seem to be less and less pedestrian aids. > > > > *From:* Intlglobal [mailto:intlglobal-bounces@lists.aerbvi.org] *On > Behalf Of *Valery Herring via Intlglobal > *Sent:* Tuesday, January 2, 2018 8:28 PM > *To:* intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org > *Subject:* [Intlglobal] In Canada recently > > > > Good New Year!! > > I was in Montreal over the New Year and noticed that there were few APS in > the old part of the city which was not surprising, but I also did not see > them in the newer section of the city in particular near the Olympic park > complex and botanical garden area. My question to O&M instructors in > particular is your experience traveling to other countries and what they > have in place as far as accessible traffic lights? > > Valery > > _______________________________________________ > Intlglobal mailing list > Intlglobal@lists.aerbvi.org > http://lists.aerbvi.org/mailman/listinfo/intlglobal_lists.aerbvi.org > >