BMA to install voice-guide systems for blind at 54 more zebra crossings

By The Nation

 

 

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will install voice-guide equipment at 54 more zebra crossings on major roads in the capital in the next fiscal year to make it more convenient for people with eyesight disability to cross roads, a senior BMA official said.

 

Waithaya Nawasetthakul, director of the Traffic Engineering Division of the BMA’s Traffic and Transport Department, said the department was pursuing a plan to install voice guides at all 522 zebra crossings in line with the policy of the BMA governor.

 

In fiscal year 2020, the department will install voice-guide systems at 54 zebra crossings. The system will provide buttons on each side of the road. When pedestrians press the button, the voice-guide system will tell them how long they must wait to cross the road and when they can cross.

 

BMA Governor Aswin Kwanmuang issued orders to install voice-guide systems at all 522 zebra crossings after he invited a blind woman, Khirin Techawongtham, for discussions. The woman is guided by her dog.

 

She told the governor that one of the obstacles people with eyesight disability face in accessing public areas is the lack of a voice-guide system at zebra crossings

 

Waithaya said inner Bangkok and areas near schools, communities with heavy traffic, and tourist destinations will get priority for installing the voice-guide systems.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30374155

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-08-04

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4 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

make it more convenient for people with eyesight disability to cross roads, a senior BMA official said.

this is a recipe for disaster; thai drivers think those painted zebra stripes are just decoration

All you have to do after installation is educate all the drivers on pedestrians having right of way at cross walks good luck with that .

 

Sadly, this is a guaranteed way to reduce the population of the visually impaired community ????

 

To be maintained by whom.....like everything else ,installed with a photo opp /thumbs up and then forgotten...

42 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

the voice-guide system will tell them

"prepare for impact"

The blind leading the blind. 

Install AK47's for use against the drivers that don't stop would make better sense....!!!

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

When pedestrians press the button, the voice-guide system will tell them how long they

've got to live .. 

4 hours ago, keith101 said:

All you have to do after installation is educate all the drivers on pedestrians having right of way at cross walks good luck with that .

 

Thanks, yes indeed, but if money was available then "pelican" crossings (with audible traffic lights) could be installed. But I bet there would still be Thai drivers who regard "red" as go!!

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

voice-guide equipment

Multiple languages?

4 hours ago, keith101 said:

All you have to do after installation is educate all the drivers on pedestrians having right of way at cross walks good luck with that .

 

An old business colleague used to say "not only the carrot. The stick is also an incentive" 

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

Sadly, this is a guaranteed way to reduce the population of the visually impaired community ????

 

Especially as the Thais will either misappropriate the funds for their maintenance or are just simply too lazy to undertake the maintenance of these audio systems.

Just another scam, looks good in the international press. The sidewalks in Bangkok are at best difficult to negotiate for those with all their senses, the blind, trying to negotiate the footpaths? they would also be crippled in a very short space of time! ???? 

Cleaning the claret up after a 50 pt direct hit of a pedestrian who thought the voicebox said " Go " when it had actually said " No " .. 

 

I dont have much faith in this working very well

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Can't help but think that if they used the 'voice' ones here, they are going to have problems as the crossings don;t align, get to the middle and you're going to here 'now vere to the right' and 'now vere to the left' at the same time causing you to walk into the middle of the crossroads

Just now, RichardColeman said:

Can't help but think that if they used the 'voice' ones here, they are going to have problems as the crossings don;t align, get to the middle and you're going to here 'now vere to the right' and 'now vere to the left' at the same time causing you to walk into the middle of the crossroads

How do you say "Get the h*LL out of the road!" in Hindi?

The "blind guide" system surely would announce "cross after looking left and right" or " prepare for your last flight before death"

what is the point ?  people just don't stop

 

assisted suicide ?

How ludicrous given the current risks in crossing at pedestrian crossings. They should be building more over or underpasses and phasing out the pedestrian crossing, so that people dont have a misguided sense of safety when crossing roads. 

an extra loud klaxxon screaming "CHAR MAK" quicker'n quicker in succession, should be easy enough for any language to grasp it!

Apparently there's only one working guide dog in Bangkok, who was trained in USA, and to my belief the dog is not bilingual..

 

One is always taking their life into their own hands when crossing a zebra or any pedestrian crossing in Thailand, because Thai drivers ALWAYS have priority on roads and buggar the pedestrians, they NEVER stop.. And if someone stupidly stops to give way, the chances of rear end accidents increases 10 fold.. 

 

Maybe the new audible message should be "Run Lassie Run" 

Up next first blind person electrocuted at a new zebra crossing and ran over by an out of control pickup driven by an equally blind driver playing candy crush????

 

8 hours ago, YetAnother said:

this is a recipe for disaster; thai drivers think those painted zebra stripes are just decoration

They are the Thai version of a bulls eye target ring.

 

The pedestrian crossings need something like railway barriers made out of solid steel. Everything else will not work here. 

4 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Thanks, yes indeed, but if money was available then "pelican" crossings (with audible traffic lights) could be installed. But I bet there would still be Thai drivers who regard "red" as go!!

There are pelican crossings, with traffic lights in Udon Thani. And yes, they are completely ignored by motorists. So I'm afraid I don't see much hope for this latest idea in Bangkok.

4 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Cleaning the claret up after a 50 pt direct hit of a pedestrian who thought the voicebox said " Go " when it had actually said " No " .. 

 

Since the new system was introduced, they've planed well with proper garbage bins for body parts.

Have to agree with all above coments,technology will not overcome ignorance and stupidity.