Visually impaired Invercargill resident Victor West is finding the city’s crossings harder to negotiate, as the increased traffic drowns out the sound of the locator beacons.
Reliant on the sound at busy intersections to cross the road, the beeping was becoming increasingly hard to hear, and sometimes he’s ended up in danger on the road.
On three separate times he has been knocked over while crossing the road and two occasions when he was hit by cars backing out of driveways.
Speaking in the public forum to Invercargill city councillors on Tuesday, Victor was representing all the blind and visually impaired community.
“There is quite a bit of variation in the volume, and we need to at least have the majority of them working properly,” he said.
Hearing the beeping sound gave people direction when crossing the road, and Victor has put in a service request to council after many complaints from the community concerned about their safety.
One example of an intersection not working well as outside the Invercargill Public Library.
“There are a lot that you really have to be thumping around looking for them, but you can’t hear them. It’s pointless having them if they aren’t working.”
Committee chair Grant Dermody acknowledged Victor’s concerns and said it was an important issue for the vision impaired community.
