Blind Pedestrians Get a Helpful Voice at Crosswalks

Say hello to the talking crosswalk.

The first one in Los Angeles introduced itself Friday to 2,500 blind and visually impaired people gathered at Century Boulevard and Concourse Way for a convention.

The automated voice system is connected to the pedestrian signals in front of the Airport Westin hotel. It tells when it is safe to cross the busy, 120-foot-wide boulevard, and when it is safer to stay on the curb.

“Crossing Century at Concourse,” the signal announced as pedestrians pressed the “walk” button. When boulevard traffic came to a halt a few moments later, the voice advised: “The walk sign is on to cross Century.”

Los Angeles transportation officials installed the unusual pedestrian signal in time for the start of the 38th annual national convention of the American Council of the Blind.

Along with conference meetings scheduled at the Westin through Friday, the convention will include a trade show at the nearby Marriott hotel that will feature such advances as computers that translate books and magazines into artificial speech.

The talking crosswalk was unusual enough to leave some convention-goers speechless.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Jean Mann, a 45-year-old blind computer programmer from Guilderland, N.Y. “I wish we had something like this at home. We could definitely use these on some of our corners.”

The signal gives pedestrians 25 seconds to cross the 10-lane boulevard--which is the main entry to Los Angeles International Airport. A beeping loudspeaker next to the button alerts the blind that the crosswalk is there.

As an extra touch, an arrow above the signal button vibrates when it is safe to cross the street.

“It works well. It gave me all the information I needed,” said Judi Cannon, 48, a tour guide at a school for the blind who lives in Quincy, Mass. “It would be totally impossible to cross this street without it. I’d take this system over one that uses a buzzer or chirps or does coo-coos any time.”

Noisemaking pedestrian signals are used at about 30 intersections in Los Angeles, including corners near the Braille Institute on Vermont Avenue and around Cal State Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. They make coo-coo sounds for north-south crosswalks and peep-peep sounds for east-west crossings, said Brian Gallagher, a transportation engineer in charge of signal timing for the city.

“The verbal message is an alternative we wanted to try,” he said. “This convention is a chance for us to get some feedback.”

The talking signals are manufactured by Polara Engineering Inc. of Fullerton. Company President John F. McGaffey--who was adjusting their volume Friday afternoon--said he is loaning the $485 signals to the city for testing.

Convention coordinator John Horst of Elizabethtown, Pa., said the American Council of the Blind has prepared guidelines for traffic engineers across the country to use for making street crossings safer for sightless pedestrians.

Mitch Pomerantz, who serves as Los Angeles’ compliance officer for the Americans With Disabilities Act and is blind, arranged for the Century Boulevard signals.

He predicted that the convention-goers would have plenty to say about the talking crosswalk.