A CALL has been made for the pedestrian crossing in Frome’s Market Place to include a sound-emitting device to signal when it is safe to cross.
The crossing was upgraded earlier this year to a digital crossing, but no longer emits a sound. Instead, it has been installed with a rotating tactile device alerting visually impaired pedestrians when to cross.
The lack of bleeper on the upgraded crossing has raised concern among some residents for those who are blind or partially-sighted.
At the full Frome Town Council meeting on Wednesday 22nd February, a member of the public said, “Guide dogs are trained to lead their partially sighted and blind people across when there’s a noise. There’s no noise emitted from those traffic lights when the pedestrians can cross the road. The visual red and green machinery is waist high and it doesn’t face the onlooker from the opposite side of the road. Ok, we probably have to get used to that but I do think there should be a signal when the lights are green for the safety of the pedestrians crossing the road.”
A spokesperson from Somerset County Council said, “Our policy is to not install bleepers at new and refurbished traffic signal sites, irrespective of their location. Instead, we install rotating tactile devices for use by visually impaired pedestrians.”
The crossing was upgraded as part of a Somerset County Council’s £11.6million refurbishment of signals across Somerset, replacing equipment that has reached the end of its working life.
