The Suang Lien Foundation for the Visually Impaired has lashed out at the Taipei City Government over malfunctioning pedestrian crossing lights with audio queues to aid the visually impaired.
The crossing signals with audio aids were introduced by former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), but in 2013 Taipei city councilors said the signals had a 47 percent malfunction rate despite the NT$53 million (US$1.7 million) spent on the system.
The city has 172 pedestrian crossings with audio queues, foundation board member Yang Chin-chung (楊錦鐘) said.
Photo: Chen Yun-chen, Taipei Times
However, the audio system for many of the lights was malfunctioning, such as on the corner of Zhongshan N Road and Jinzhou Street, foundation deputy executive chief Huang Chao-jung (黃昭蓉) said.
Huang said most visually impaired people rely on the sounds of traffic or other pedestrians to judge when to cross the road.
The Traffic Engineering Office said it would arrange repairs.
Audio-assist signals are programmed to chime periodically and make different sounds based on the traffic signals, the city government said.
North and southbound signals sound like a cuckoo bird, east and westbound signals sound like a bird trill, and sidewalks are identified with the sound of crickets, it said.
It is not feasible to install audio systems in all the city’s 2,480 pedestrian crossings, the office said, adding that it is looking into a remote activation system using a mobile phone app.
If the alternative method is successful, it might be implemented citywide, the office said.
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