“Developed to assist blind and partially sighted pedestrians to cross the road safely”

Most traffic signal controlled pedestrian crossings have some form of “audible” signal for the purpose of letting blind and partially sighted pedestrians know that the road traffic had been signalled to stop. These audible facilities are not allowed at dual-crossings where a central island is present, as there is a real danger that a blind pedestrian may mistake the audible from the other crossing half and step out in front of live traffic which had not been signalled to stop.

In the late eighties, Coeval launched the Speaking Pelican Crossing. The equipment comprises a “male” voice unit, a “female” voice unit and four speakers. Each crossing half is equipped with a voice unit. For example, if the local landmark to be mentioned within the message is “THE TOWN CENTRE” the male voice unit is fitted to the crossing half with the message “Traffic going to the Town Centre, has been signalled to stop.” Correspondingly, the female voice unit is fitted to the other crossing half with the message “Traffic coming from the Town Centre has been signalled to stop.” The use of a separate voice for each crossing half helps to distinguish each crossing half to the blind pedestrian.

Each speech unit uses a digitally stored human voice and local dialects and accent can be catered for. In addition, timeclock technology allows the messages to be broadcast at a lower volume during night-time when the traffic volume is less. Each message is triggered by the traffic signal controller when required.

The Speaking Pelican Unit can of course be used at PUFFIN and TOUCAN crossings as well.