[nfb-talk] Crossing the Street for the Blind

John G. Heim jheim at math.wisc.edu
Mon Nov 24 14:25:54 UTC 2008


The system described below doesn't help you locate cars. It helps you locate 
the intersection. One of the biggest challenges of audible crosswalk signals 
is finding the stupid button. If you could trigger it remotely, that would 
be helpful.  This is especially true in parts of the country that get a lot 
of snow. The button for the audible signal at one of the intercections I 
cross at every day is always snowed in.

I'm not so sure about the thing where your cell phone beeps if you're out of 
the crosswalk. I suppose what harm can it do? If you want to stray out of 
the crosswalk, you could still do it. But the thing about automatically 
changing the stop lights might be bad. That seems a bit dangerous to me. 
Cars might get into accidents of the light changes to red all of a sudden. 
They might have to think about that one a bit more. It might work though. 
Traffic engineers can study something like that and assess it's value. But I 
wouldn't automatically be against it. I'd have to see how well it worked 
first.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 8:48 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Crossing the Street for the Blind


>
> Dear Dar,
>
> The cell phone approach will not work and is very impracticle and would 
> leave many other pedestrians exposed.
> The best way is just to be able to hear them coming the same way we judge 
> the approach of all other vehicles.
> The cell phone method just will not let you judge how fast and from what 
> direction a hybred car is coming like your hearing does.
> You would have to walk around trying to pay attention to your phone and 
> all of the other things at the same time.
> Cars just need to sound like cars, that's all.  Cars, most of them anyway, 
> already do this and we can handle them.  It is just the hybred electric 
> ones that mostly don't follow the rules.
>
> David Evans, NFBF
>
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>From: "dmgina" <dmgina at qwest.net
>>To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>Date sent: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:21:40 -0700
>>Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Crossing the Street for the Blind
>
>>I am for what they want to do.
>>Many of us have cell phones, and I wouldn't be with out mine.
>>I will keep reading.
>
>>--Dar
>>www.mypowermall.com/biz/home/5779
>>Every saint has a past
>>every sinner has a future
>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Alicia Richards" <alicia716 at msn.com
>>To: "NFB Talk" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2008 5:08 PM
>>Subject: [nfb-talk] Crossing the Street for the Blind
>
>
>>> The following was just posted to the Colorado Association of
> Blind
>>> Students mailing list.  I'm curious to know what you guys have
> to say
>>> about it.  I wonder, does the NFB know of this technology, and
> do we plan
>>> to do anything about it?
>
>>> For the 21.2 million Americans who suffer from vision loss,
>>> crossing the
>>> street can be a stressful and potentially dangerous proposition.
>>> Thanks to engineers at the University of Idaho, many visually
> impaired
>>> individuals soon may have a greatly reduced risk thanks to a
> tool
>>> already in their pockets - their cell phone.
>
>>> The statistics for vision loss, provided by the American
>>> Foundation for
>>> the Blind, include anyone reporting difficulty seeing, even
> while
>>> wearing glasses or contact lenses. No matter the level of visual
>>> impairment, many conditions - including visual noise, walking at
>>> night
>>> and irregular intersections - can result in missing a crosswalk.
>
>>> Regardless of conditions, the new system being developed in
>>> Moscow,
>>> Idaho, will make intersections safer and easier to navigate.
>
>>> "Minute for minute on the road, any pedestrian is 150 percent
>>> more
>>> likely to
>
>>> be injured by a car than somebody driving one," said Richard
>>> Wall,
>>> professor
>
>>> of electrical and computer engineering. "But it is pretty
>>> apparent that
>>> the
>
>>> blind pedestrians are the ones most at risk at intersections.b
>
>>> The new technology utilizes features already available in many
>>> cellular
>
>>> phones, including communications, Global Positioning Satellite
>>> (GPS)
>
>>> functions and magnetic compasses to help visually impaired
>>> pedestrians.
>
>>> Specialized software allows these pedestrians to activate the
>>> crossing
>
>>> signal remotely without having to locate the physical button.
>
>>> Then, the GPS system monitors the position and direction of
>>> travel while
>>> crossing. As long as the crosser stays within the crosswalk,
>>> nothing
>>> happens. But stray outside the lines, and an audible warning
>>> activates
>>> alerting the pedestrian of their danger. It then provides
>>> directions on
>>> how to get back within the safety zone. Should the walker
> somehow
>>> end up
>>> in the middle of the intersection, the system automatically
> would
>>> turn
>>> every light red, stopping traffic and averting a potential
>>> disaster.
>
>>> "It's true that this would disrupt the timing of the signal
>>> patterns
>>> when it gets activated," said Wall. "But we would much rather
>>> disrupt
>>> them for a few seconds than for a half hour while an ambulance
>>> assists a
>>> traffic victim."
>
>>> To ensure people don't trigger the alarm just for fun, only
> those
>>> who
>>> need the help would be able to acquire the necessary software.
>
>>> The system requires more than software, however. It also
> requires
>>> the
>>> installation of new hardware in thousands of lights across the
>>> country.
>>> Luckily, Wall and his team have found a solution that not only
> is
>>> cost
>>> effective, it simplifies the existing system.
>
>>> Many crosswalks currently have handicapped-Many crosswalks curre
>>> provide
>>> help such as audio tones indicating when it is safe to cross.
>>> However,
>>> the box that controls the intersection contains a massive amount
>>> of
>>> wiring. This is necessary to connect each actuator with each
>>> signal so
>>> at any given time, the control box knows each state.
>
>>> Wall's new system simplifies each box to only two wires, both
>>> already
>>> required to power the signals. It uses a technology called
>>> Ethernet over
>>> power line, which allows information to be broadcast over power
>>> lines.
>
>>> The future is clear for Wall and his research team. They have
>>> established dates to deliver the engineering and expect field
>>> trials to
>>> commence in June. They are building prototypes supported by
> funds
>>> from
>>> the University Transportation Centers program, Idaho's Higher
>>> Education
>>> Research Council and their commercial partner, Campbell Company,
>>> who
>>> currently makes the accessible pedestrian signals that chirp and
>>> talk
>>> for the handicapped.
>
>>> "The signals we're building are more than prototypes. These
>>> devices
>>> actually can go into the field and work today," said Wall.
> "We're
>>> using
>>> existing infrastructure and communicating intelligence over it.
>>> It's
>>> cost effective, it simplifies the connection to two wires and it
>>> can be
>>> immediately installed in all the existing crosswalks in the
>>> country."
>
>>> If you would like more information, or to speak with the people
>>> involved, please let me know.
>
>>> Ken Kingery
>
>>> Science/Research Writer
>
>>> University of Idaho
>
>>> Office: 208-885-9156
>
>>> Cell: 614-570-3942
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk_nfbnet.org
>
>
>
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