Did you know that the talking traffic lights on street corners are officially called Audio Pedestrian Signals [or APS]? David Ayers, Eastern Region Sales Manager for Polara, and J.J. talk about the installation process and cost for equipping an intersection in this interview. There are a lot of things to consider before a city can add these devices to the traffic grid. To learn more, and find out how you can make a request for APS in your area, visit the Polara website.
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Transcript
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Hide transcriptTranscribed by Grecia Ramirez
Direct from St. Louis, it’s blindbargains.com coverage of ACB 2018, brought to you by Google
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Now, here’s J.J. Meddaugh.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Wait to cross Broadway and Main. Wait. Traveling north.
SECOND COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Broadway. Broadway. North.
J.J. MEDDAUGH: You’re listening to a device from Polara. I have found David Ayers. He’s the Eastern region sales manager for Polara. Of course, we’re dealing with traffic signals.
Hey, David. Welcome to the podcast.
DAVID AYERS: Hey. Thanks, man.
JM: So these have been around for a minute. That’s a pretty familiar chirp in a lot of different cities now. Why don’t you tell us some of the latest that’s going on with Polara.
DA: So what we’re doing is we’re actually here to educate folks on how to request APS for traffic signals in their communities.
JM: Audible pedestrian signals.
DA: Audible pedestrian signals. And the device we’re listening to now is actually our iNavigator, which is our latest model. It’s been on the market for about two to three years, and we have incorporated Bluetooth so that we can utilize Bluetooth to program these buttons, making it easier on the traffic agencies and the contractors that are doing the actual installations.
JM: Yeah. How do you ensure that – you know, I’ve noticed a time or two – and you can report to the city. Sometimes, you’ll see these – you know, the messages will be backwards, for instance, which obviously, is no good.
DA: That is a problem. And what we do is we make people program the messages at the button. They have to be at the button to download the message, which means they’re less likely to put the wrong message into our device.
JM: Now, you have some features that – I’ve used a lot of these before. You have the arrow on the button itself, which is – theoretically, it’s supposed to point towards the other side of the street; correct?
DA: That’s correct.
JM: You know, obviously, some cities do a better job of implementing these things than others. And the countdown – I love the countdown.
DA: The countdown is not supported by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Code Devices (sic) –
JM: Okay.
DA: -- but in my conversations that I’ve had with visually impaired, most of these folks like the countdown because it’s kind of convenient to know how many seconds they have left to complete their crossing. So as sighted people, we can look across the street and see a countdown ped. We see the count – the seconds counting down.
JM: Right.
DA: This just audiblizes that same information so that someone who’s visually impaired has the same advantage.
JM: What do you mean when you say it’s not supported by –
DA: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Code Devices says that the countdown is – can be confusing at the intersection with all of the other noises that are going on -- vehicular noises –
JM: Interesting.
DA: -- and pedestrian noises. If you’ve got an intersection that’s not quite – it’s not utilized as much by pedestrians, then I think the countdown is probably not inconvenient, it’s not confusing. But if you’ve got an intersection that’s got a lot of pedestrian traffic at all times during the day, then you might have the potential to have several different countdowns playing at the same time, and that is where that is coming from.
JM: I see. Interesting. And of course, some other features that you might have heard – and not always on the older signals – not only could you tell me the street that I’m crossing, you told me the direction that I’m going to cross.
DA: That’s correct. We can add the directionality to the voice message, which may assist with people that are very aware of what direction they’re traveling. You can feel the sun on your face and know –
JM: Right.
DA: -- which way is east and west. So that directionality can be a huge assistance to those types of visually impaired.
JM: And are they configured now, or is that an option? I know some of these, you just press the button, or some, you would press and hold to get the additional information, or –
DA: Well, in a normal button-press, you can program it to just say, "wait," or do a click. If you want the additional information, you can program it to do it based on a one-second extended push. That makes the messages in the button a little less intrusive so that they’re only used when somebody does an extended push. And that’s why it’s important for us to train folks that are visually impaired to do that extended push at all buttons to try to gain that additional information.
JM: Now, you’re talking about monitoring ways to access these signals. You’ve been looking a little bit into – perhaps, if we want to activate these from a phone. Is that something you’re thinking about, or –
DA: That’s correct. Our company’s thinking about a ped app, where you might could use a VoiceOver command to activate a crossing for either of the two directions available at that corner. One of the things that we feel is a concern is the ability to detect which button you’re wanting to activate –
JM: Oh. Especially at a complex intersection.
DA: Exactly. And again, one of the things that was brought up was if you’re standing at the ramp, you might potentially have 15 to 20 people between you and the button. So if you have to get to the button, you have to walk through those 15 to 20 people, where if you had an app, you could just activate it at the ramp and not have to worry about maneuvering through a crowded intersection.
JM: Are there some that have other sensors on them? I almost notice sometimes, they just tend to go off without anybody pressing them. Or maybe someone snuck in and pushed the button.
DA: Well, I think what you’re probably seeing is an intersection that is on what we call a fixed time. So it produces a Walk signal every time that Walk signal has the ability to come up. Now, our button can be programmed to where it will not play the messages unless there’s actually a button pushed at that intersection.
JM: Right.
DA: This happens mainly in downtown areas. So the reds and the greens for the cars, they come up automatically whether there’s cars there or not, and that’s called fixed time.
JM: Uh-huh.
DA: So the intersection continues to run through its cycle on a fixed-time basis, and the button can be set up to where it gives that Walk every time, or it can be programmed to only give the Walk if there’s a button push.
JM: How do you balance the need for accessible information for a blind person with the concern that some might have of noise pollution, having a whole bunch of these things beeping everywhere?
DA: That is a huge concern. And the Manual on Uniform Traffic Code Devices states that we have to be able to hear the locate tone on the APS6 to 12 feet from the pole. Okay? That’s considerably less loud than most are programmed. We go out during the middle of the day, and we program volumes, which means that’s when ambient noise is at its loudest.
JM: Yeah. Some of these are louder than others. Yes.
DA: So we don’t compensate for that when we’re doing the initial programming, so they’re too loud. So what we suggest is programming them at a minimum volume and let ambient noise drive the volume. We have a microphone in our button that actually measures ambient, and it will raise the volume and lower the volume based on that ambient presence.
JM: I’ve noticed that. It definitely makes it a little more usable. Especially in a really loud and crowded intersection.
DA: That’s correct. And that is the intent. One of the other things that we’ve done is we’ve given the ability with the program features in this button, to be able to, at night, reduce the overall volumes of the button. Say, at 11 o’clock p.m., and then go back to the normal volume settings at 6 a.m., which gives us the nighttime – we call it Quiet Time mode. It actually reduces the volumes on the overall button during those times.
JM: Okay. What’s the cost of this versus just regular street lights out – now, how much additional cost is there? You have – on a corner – regular corner -- you’d have, what, eight of these?
DA: Yeah. There’s eight of – typically eight if –
JM: For a two-way.
DA: -- you’re outfitting the entire intersection.
JM: Yup.
DA: If you’re outfitting the entire intersection, you’re probably looking at a cost of approximately $5500 --
JM: Okay.
DA: -- for the entire intersection.
JM: So less than a thousand – that’s much less than 7- or $800 apiece for – you know –
DA: It averages out about 5 – $500 apiece.
JM: Okay. So what’s the best way, if someone wants to stay – try to get more of these in their city, what’s the best way to make that happen?
DA: Well, like I said, we’re here today to talk to folks and educate them on how to request these from their traffic departments. So if you live in a city, there’s a traffic department that’s responsible for maintaining the traffic signals. If we send a request, ADA says that that agency has to go out and at least evaluate the intersection to look at the inclusion of APS.
JM: Do you feel that every intersection that has a light should have an APS, or do you think that it’s better suited for some more than others?
DA: I think there’s very few that the intersections would not be suited for APS. Obviously, there are a few exceptions. One of them might be a highway type intersection, where there are no ped crossings now, and an agency may not want to promote this ped crossings at that intersection because of the average daily traffic that goes through that intersection.
JM: Right. Then it becomes a completely separate issue.
DA: That’s correct.
JM: They need to make it more walkable and complete streets and everything else.
Okay. If people want to get more information about this, what’s the best way to do it?
DA: Go to our website. WWW.polara.com. You’ll find all kinds of information, videos and documents, brochures on how to request them and learn more about them. Education is the key. The more we know about it, the more likely we are to be able to present this to our city officials and be able to educate them.
JM: Awesome. Hey, thank you so much for showing this to us. We really appreciate it.
And now, I’m going to leave.
COMPUTERIZED VOICE: Main Street, south. Walk sign is on to cross Main Street, south.
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Joe Steinkamp is no stranger to the world of technology, having been a user of video magnification and blindness related electronic devices since 1979. Joe has worked in radio, retail management and Vocational Rehabilitation for blind and low vision individuals in Texas. He has been writing about the A.T. Industry for 15 years and podcasting about it for almost a decade.
