The pedestrian switch manual#

However, there are some units that have been installed in recent years that have the arrow on the sign above the button or on top of the device.

The pedestrian switch manual#

Beginning in early 2012, the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) will require that new APS installations have a tactile arrow on the pushbutton. There will often be two APS on a corner, so you need to be sure you’re pushing the right pushbutton and listening for the right device to sound. You can use the arrow to check to be sure the APS is for the street you intend to cross. Basically that means the arrow will be aligned with the crosswalk lines. There is a raised tactile arrow either on the pushbutton or somewhere on the housing that is supposed to be installed so that it lines up with the direction of travel on the crosswalk. When you hear this sound, it means you should wait to begin your crossing. These tones will continue all the time, except during the WALK interval. The quieter locator tone allows you to hear traffic sounds better. You should not expect to hear the locator tone much before getting to the corner, or during the entire time while you’re crossing the street. They come from a speaker at the pushbutton and are supposed to be loud enough to be heard 6 to 12 feet from the pushbuttons, or to the building line, whichever is less. The pushbutton locator tones repeat constantly at once per second, rather like a grandfather clock, to help you locate a pedestrian pushbutton. Be sure to read the section below on APS locations! APS features Pushbutton locator tones. Then, after that, if all sounds right, you can “GO” (begin to cross).Īlong with the new features of APS, there are new recommendations for installation. It means that the signal has changed, but it is still important to 'get set' (check the traffic). The APS Walk signal sound can be compared to the 'on your mark' instruction at the beginning of a race. Cars can still be turning across the crosswalk, or running a red light. APS provide information only about the status of the signal, so the APS Walk sound tells you that the Walk signal is on, NOT that it is safe to cross. It is important to recognize that the APS information supplements - but does not replace - traffic cues.

There are several important features that you should be aware of: pushbutton locator tones, audible and vibrotactile walk indications, tactile arrows, and automatic volume adjustment. They are a part of the pushbutton and are supposed to be installed near the crosswalk they signal.

The new kinds of APS are usually called pushbutton-integrated APS. The research is described in Appendix C, in Accessible Pedestrian Signals: A Guide to Best Practice, at New kinds of APS There was no advantage to overhead mounted signals, in terms of providing directional guidance for crossing, and they had to be louder and were more likely to be disturbing to neighbors. In general, this was found to be true for “two-tone” systems of signals people made incorrect decisions. People had difficulty remembering which tone was for which direction, often didn’t know which direction they were traveling, and birds sometimes mimicked the chirp sound. First, we learned that the cuckoo-chirp signals resulted in incorrect decisions about which street had the walk signal.

This is based on research completed since 1988, including an ACB survey in 1998, evaluating different types of APS systems. You may be more familiar with the cuckoo-chirp type signals, but they are no longer the recommended standard in the US. The most recent recommendations for accessible pedestrian signals (APS) are based on an entirely different type of device and installation than the overhead cuckoo-chirp type signals that have been installed in many parts of the US. Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist