conuly

Those are fantastic.

They're intended, as you may have guessed, for visually impaired people. (Which I say, because I have a friend who's colourblind who relies heavily on those chirps.)

They're supposed to chirp everytime - the ones in my area did - and there's a slightly different chirp for each direction; when one pair of lights is green, it's one chirp, and when the other pair is green, it's a different chirp.

I got so used to hearing them, that I started paying more attention to that than the colour of the lights, and now that I've moved back to an area that doesn't have them, I miss my "birdie-lights". ;;

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Different areas use different types of disability-friendly lights. My favorite kind only chirps upon request. See my comment in the thread for a longer answer.

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moggymania.livejournal.com

I'm not sure about why you don't have them, or what they're like elsewhere, but they *always* chirp here.

What's very strange to me is that the chirps aren't always the same from one area to the next. I'm used to the way that they sound here, but was confused briefly when I visited Washington DC.

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There are no standards. This is very troubling and incredibly stupid. It'd be easy to implement standards, which would allow blind people to travel safely in far more locations. But as it is, you have to listen for traffic patterns to really be safe. But learning the rules for your local area is very helpful, but can mess you up if you don't know it's only local or how far it spreads.

I've also been told by some blind people that some places do not properly synchronize the chirping with when it is safe to cross... I can't think of anything to add to this that could possibly say more than just that basic fact.

But I'm a big fan of well-designed chirpy lights. :) I like the ones that vibrate and chirp upon request, as they work with blindness, deafness, and deaf-blindness - the latter being really difficult to find a good solution for. Plus, it's just so very useful to be able to rest my hand on the button and know that I cross when it vibrates. I sometimes get confused with multiple sounds or where sounds are coming from, but I know the vibration means that intersection is now safe to cross.

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No standards? That is troubling.

Thanks for the further explanation.

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Going off on a tangent...

In a previous discussion of pelican crossings, somebody complained about the buttons for them being at an inconvenient height for people in wheelchairs. And that threw me, because I couldn't think that they were, but I don't know if I said anything at the time. But this seems as good a time as any to ask...

What height *are* pelican crossing buttons at if it's inconvenient? Because here they're usually about hip height or slightly above. I can't imagine a better compromise - people in wheelchairs/children need to reach up a bit, adults walking have to reach down a bit.

*Is curious*

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Ummm what are pelican crossings? The image it conjures up, while fascinating, is probably inaccurate. Is it just a more interesting term for crosswalks?

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*Looks up crosswalks to check she's right in her assumption*

Hmm, sounds like you lump them all together... In which case, a pelican crossing is a type of crosswalk. Our crossings all have animal names - pelican (pedestrian light-co(a)ntrolled,) puffin (pedestrian user-f(f)riendly intelligent,) toucan (two-can) and zebra (black and white stripes on the road, the one that started the trend.) Oh, and apparently ones for horses are called pegasus.

Pelican crossings are the closest to the generic crosswalk with lights I think - press the button, wait for the red standing man to go out and the green walking man to come on, cross, but don't start crossing if the green man is flashing (which it does to indicate that soon the light will go red and traffic will be able to move again.) And of course many of them make noises (the ones near my old school sounded like a UFO or something.) I'd never really thought of the 'which is beeping' problem because here there's much less of a tendancy to have them at crossroads. If you've got two nearby it's more likely because one takes you to the middle of the road, another to the other side. And where there are a few round a crossroad they tend to be sufficiently spaced out there you can hear whether yours is crossing.

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kibbles.livejournal.com

The buttons to cross don't even work -- I can't imagine them doing something as wacky and futuristic and innovative as CHIRPING.

(http://slashdot.org/articles/04/02/28/1722239.shtml is info on the non working cross walk thingers.)

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stejcruetekie.livejournal.com

Actually there are a few places with them, mainly renovated places. Columbus Circle with the new AOL/Time Whorer building has them at at least one of the intersections.

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ser-kai.livejournal.com

Here, the button you press to cross also doubles as a visually impaired guide thingy. Not only do they make a noise, the box the button is mounted on 'thumps' so you can be sure of which way you can cross. The corresponding box on the other side of the intersection does the same thing.

I think the setup is really cool.

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beetlebomb.livejournal.com

They have them in Toronto too. I don't know about where you are, but when the lights in one direction are green they go tweet-tweet-tweet and when it changes it makes a sound similar to a cuckoo clock. It always makes me think of the Laurel & Hardy theme song!

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push-the-limits.livejournal.com

We don't have them here. When I heard them in WA, I couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from and why. It took me a minute.

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Those are fantastic.

They're intended, as you may have guessed, for visually impaired people. (Which I say, because I have a friend who's colourblind who relies heavily on those chirps.)

They're supposed to chirp everytime - the ones in my area did - and there's a slightly different chirp for each direction; when one pair of lights is green, it's one chirp, and when the other pair is green, it's a different chirp.

I got so used to hearing them, that I started paying more attention to that than the colour of the lights, and now that I've moved back to an area that doesn't have them, I miss my "birdie-lights". ;;

From:

Different areas use different types of disability-friendly lights. My favorite kind only chirps upon request. See my comment in the thread for a longer answer.

From:

moggymania.livejournal.com

I'm not sure about why you don't have them, or what they're like elsewhere, but they *always* chirp here.

What's very strange to me is that the chirps aren't always the same from one area to the next. I'm used to the way that they sound here, but was confused briefly when I visited Washington DC.

From:

There are no standards. This is very troubling and incredibly stupid. It'd be easy to implement standards, which would allow blind people to travel safely in far more locations. But as it is, you have to listen for traffic patterns to really be safe. But learning the rules for your local area is very helpful, but can mess you up if you don't know it's only local or how far it spreads.

I've also been told by some blind people that some places do not properly synchronize the chirping with when it is safe to cross... I can't think of anything to add to this that could possibly say more than just that basic fact.

But I'm a big fan of well-designed chirpy lights. :) I like the ones that vibrate and chirp upon request, as they work with blindness, deafness, and deaf-blindness - the latter being really difficult to find a good solution for. Plus, it's just so very useful to be able to rest my hand on the button and know that I cross when it vibrates. I sometimes get confused with multiple sounds or where sounds are coming from, but I know the vibration means that intersection is now safe to cross.

From:

No standards? That is troubling.

Thanks for the further explanation.

From:

Going off on a tangent...

In a previous discussion of pelican crossings, somebody complained about the buttons for them being at an inconvenient height for people in wheelchairs. And that threw me, because I couldn't think that they were, but I don't know if I said anything at the time. But this seems as good a time as any to ask...

What height *are* pelican crossing buttons at if it's inconvenient? Because here they're usually about hip height or slightly above. I can't imagine a better compromise - people in wheelchairs/children need to reach up a bit, adults walking have to reach down a bit.

*Is curious*

From:

Ummm what are pelican crossings? The image it conjures up, while fascinating, is probably inaccurate. Is it just a more interesting term for crosswalks?

From: