Making streets safer for the blind

Art Nadler

Monday, Nov. 9, 1998 | 11:01 a.m.

The Las Vegas Department of Public Works has installed the city's first audible traffic signal to aid blind pedestrians crossing busy Charleston Boulevard.

The signal, which emits a tone after pushing a button, lets blind pedestrians know when it's safe to cross. Two signals have been installed at both ends of the crosswalk in front of the main entrance to University Medical Center on Charleston Boulevard near Westwood Drive.

A similar system was installed by the Clark County Traffic Department near UNLV at Harmon Avenue and Maryland Parkway four years ago.

"I just think it's superb," said Evelyn Fleet, executive director of Active Blind and Visually Impaired of Nevada. "We don't know when to go across -- especially in Las Vegas where the traffic is overwhelming. The traffic doesn't stop here."

O.C. White, a Las Vegas traffic engineer, said the signal will be at the Charleston Boulevard location as part of a test program for 30 to 45 days to see how many blind individuals use it. Between six and eight permanent locations are being considered, he said.

Gloria Chaffee has lived in Las Vegas 11 years and has been fighting for an audible traffic signal for three years. She said she had written to Mayor Jan Laverty Jones and several councilmen before the Regional Transportation Commission got involved.

"I will never stop pushing for this," a determined Chaffee said. "I think these are needed. I don't want to see another blind person hit."

Chaffee said she also would like to see audible pedestrian traffic signals near Fremont and Fourth streets, Rainbow Boulevard and Westcliff Drive and Bonanza Road and Lamb Boulevard.

White said each signal costs between $600 and $800. The city is presently testing four different systems before it makes a decision to purchase one.

"We are trying to get as much feedback from the people who would use these," White said. "This was a spot we thought might get some use and was a street we could test for sound."