City urged to add audio to its crosswalk signals

When Gloria Chaffee crosses the street in Las Vegas, she wonders if it's the last time the she'll step down off the curb.

Not only are the streets dangerous for all pedestrians -- dozens are killed here every year -- Chaffee is legally blind, making it impossible for her to tell if a car is barreling down on her or if the walk signal is giving her the go ahead.

"It's very difficult for the visually impaired to cross the street in Las Vegas," she said. "With more visitors here, there's more visually impaired visitors. And it's not just blind people, it's children and seniors who have problems."

As the president of the National Federation of the Blind of Nevada, Chaffee has lobbied local politicians for more than a year to get audio commands installed at crosswalk signals in the Las Vegas Valley.

Though she was told that the city of Las Vegas and the Regional Transportation System would be looking into the proposal, there remains only one crosswalk in the valley that has an audio signal. A fact that's especially disconcerting to Chaffee when she hears about the millions of dollars recently allocated to Las Vegas by the federal government for highway and street renovations.

"The one signal is at Maryland Parkway and Harmon Avenue near UNLV," Chaffee said. "The only reason that one's there is because a blind student and her seeing-eye dog were killed. I say why wait until someone else dies?"

O.C. White, Las Vegas city traffic engineer, said it's not that easy. Though the cost of the system is minor -- about $3,000 to add to existing traffic signals -- there are several more details that need to be worked out.

"There are some groups of people who work with training the blind that worry we might make people with sight impairments dependent on the audio signals, rather than on their own senses," White said, referring to his experiences as a traffic engineer in Fresno, Calif., with blind advocacy groups and audio street signals. "They said they would rather have them trained to use their other senses than to have them depend on something we've built."

Another issue is which intersections would best be served by an audio signal, and whether the chirping noise the signal emits can compete with background noise in such areas as the Strip.

"My experience has been that we need to look at each intersection carefully," White said. "There are certain circumstances when it's a peculiar situation and it should be added."

White said the city's public works department is seeking input from blind residents and advocacy groups to decide what should be done. Until the department gets more information, there are no plans to add any more audio signals in the city.

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