 Program number three, accessible sidewalks. Design issues for pedestrians with low vision. This runs 11 minutes and 24 seconds. With Marcia Maz of the Access Board. Hi, I'm Marcia Maz with the United States Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, known as the Access Board. I spend much of my time here overseeing the development of accessibility guidelines for buildings and facilities covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act or other federal laws. Technical assistance, how can I help you? And as the technical assistance coordinator, I answer a lot of questions from site designers, landscape architects, and civil highway and traffic engineers who design public sidewalks. Most of them know more about accessibility for people who use wheelchairs than they do for people who have low vision. Few appreciate how important the design of sidewalks, street crossings, and traffic control devices are to those of us who have low vision. For me and other people like me, being a pedestrian is hard work. People who are elderly frequently have visual conditions similar to mine. Lots of other people are blind sometimes, whether it's a momentary lapse of attention, an obstructed view, or a failure to look in the right direction. We're a large and growing population. Some states require drivers to yield to any pedestrian who steps off the curb. Federal law requires drivers to yield the right of way to pedestrians who carry white canes. But I don't use a white cane because I can use my vision to travel. So to a driver, I look like just another pedestrian. Drivers don't understand that their visual cues, such as hand motions or eye contact indicating they know you were there, are useless to me. And I don't see some of the visible information provided by traffic and pedestrian signals. Although most pedestrians, including me, use both sight and sound to travel, traffic control devices rarely address both. Redundancy can be very useful in a straight environment. If you don't see a vehicle, you may hear it. And in fact, the ADA accessibility guidelines developed by the Access Board require redundancy in many communication features, such as audible alarms, and voice and text telephones. Pedestrian signals are communication devices, too. No one would intentionally design a system that puts pedestrians at risk, but a system that relies on individuals to visually identify danger in order to avoid it inevitably discriminates against people with vision impairments. An unfamiliar intersection poses multiple questions. What kind of traffic controls are installed here? Is this an actuated intersection with a button to call for the pedestrian cycle? And if so, what are the traffic patterns here? Am I protected against turning vehicles? When does the crossing interval start? Is it possible to make a full crossing in the time allotted, or will it be necessary to wait in the median for the next cycle? Some of these questions can be answered with the visible and audible information provided by pedestrian signals if they are well located, and it is clear what crossing they cover and what they signify. I can't see a pedestrian signal across the street, even a two-lane roadway, but I can use a pedestrian signal located on the sidewalk I'm leaving or a traffic signal located nearby. This works well if I can find the information readily and can make the whole crossing on one cycle. But that's not always possible, particularly if I don't start crossing as soon as the light changes. I don't want to begin my crossing with the first pedestrians because they may be picking a gap in traffic to cross against the light. Instead, I want to confirm that traffic is stopped before I step off the curb, which, after all, is just good pedestrian practice. That means I may not get fully across before the light changes. Most crossing cycles are shorter than needed. If I have to wait in the middle of the street too far from the signals to tell when the next crossing phase begins, I take my cues from other pedestrians, relying on safety in numbers, a convoy technique that works well in urban areas. Street crossings without signals or crosswalks offer almost no travel clues. This one doesn't even have a curve between the pedestrian walk and the roadway. If I weren't trying to make a point here, I'd probably detour from this route until I found a controlled intersection. My experience tells me that alternate routes are not always nearby. I'm a frequent walker because the state of Maryland DMV will not give me a driver's license. And frankly, I don't think you'd want them to either. Like every other pedestrian, I'm usually in a hurry. I don't appreciate detours because crossings don't give me enough information. One good example is a traffic circle without signals. During rush hour, every gap created by an exiting vehicle is immediately filled by an entering one. That's a great formula for moving traffic efficiently, but there's no room in this equation for pedestrians. Exiting cars don't show up on my radar until they're almost on top of me. And drivers are too focused on maneuvering their cars through the circle to yield to pedestrians. Drivers traveling on the inner circumference don't even see me until we're both in the crossing. Don't try this at home. These continuous flow designs and their more modern cousins don't really work for any pedestrians. Here, the drivers of entering cars will be looking left over their shoulders for a gap in the flow, not at the crosswalk for a pedestrian stepping off the curb on the right. When I can't be sure a driver sees me, I sometimes cross behind a car waiting to turn. This is not good pedestrian technique because you're screened from opposing traffic and you're out of the protection of a crosswalk if there is one. The general emphasis on moving traffic efficiently, especially the right turn on red, seems to encourage drivers to behave badly. Those who insist on a vehicular right of way assume that pedestrians can see them from a distance and that they will yield if sufficiently threatened by a car. Whether it's at a crosswalk or at the entrance to a parking garage, every day, some driver comes close enough to me to scare him. No distinction between pedestrian and vehicular areas like this arrival zone at a museum makes finding my way unnecessarily complicated. Where is the pedestrian route here? Who has the right of way? Does the bus driver see me? Will he yield or play chicken? I can't tell. Though I have a lot of faith in school bus drivers, I would feel more comfortable if it was clear who belongs in this space and when. Other design considerations are also important. Contrast in color, pattern, and texture underfoot can be useful for people with low vision, especially when there's a change in level. This walkway curb and gutter are all fabricated from the same granite, so it's really tough to pick up the difference in elevation here. A change in materials between the sidewalk and curb, curb and gutter, street and crosswalk will be detectable by many pedestrians with low vision. Where the footing is uneven, it is difficult to see the returns on this curb ramp. Even a change in concrete mixed color between the sidewalk and the curb ramp would be useful. Contrast also helps in signage, but only if you can get close enough to read it. Downtown, I can always ask someone if this is 14th or 13th street. In the suburbs, where I may be the only one on foot, it's not so easy to find the way to an unfamiliar destination. Here are a few recommendations that will work for most pedestrians, including those who don't see well. Standardization in traffic control devices, symbols, colors, mounting locations, and visible and audible features. Well designed and detectable boundaries and edges, especially those between pedestrian and vehicular routes. Legible signs and large, simple fonts using both upper and lower case type well contrasted against their background. Well maintained walkways and streets, predictable traffic patterns and predictable rights-of-way practices. Enforcement of pedestrian and vehicular regulations, adequate time to cross, and access to pedestrian information conveyed visually. These recommendations are a first step to making the pedestrian environment more accessible to people with low vision. Our current task is to get input from professionals in the traffic engineering field on how these suggestions can be incorporated into the design, construction, and operation of the pedestrian vehicular environment. We are coordinating this effort with the transportation industry. When this information is gathered, we may then develop guidelines that will specify how access is to be achieved when rights-of-way are established, developed, or altered. Here are numbers to call for technical assistance from the access board. The toll-free number for voice is 1-800-872-2253. The toll-free TTY number is 800-993-2822. The local number for voice is 202-272-0080. The local number for facts, 202-272-0081. And the local TTY number is 202-272-0082. Visit the access board website at www.access-board.gov. You can write the access board at the access board, 1331 F Street, Northwest, Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 200-04-1111.