Debated in Parliament on 3 Oct 2022.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song asked the Minister for Transport with reference to Recommendation 16 of the Enabling Masterplan 2030 (a) what proportion of all pedestrian crossings will be equipped with 24/7 on-demand audible traffic signals; (b) what will be the design and features of these new traffic signals; and (c) how will the new traffic signals overcome the current constraint of being switched off at night to avoid disturbing nearby residents.
About 1,300 or 20% of all signalised pedestrian crossings (PCs) have audio signal devices that beeps a soft locating tone intermittently to help persons with visual impairment (PwVI) identify a PC. It emits a louder crossing tone during the Green Man time to aid them in crossing the road. The device operates from 7.00 am to 9.00 pm daily to reduce noise disamenities to residents nearby. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has plans to add these audio signal devices to a further 160 PCs.
LTA has been progressively upgrading these PCs with audio signals to allow PwVIs to activate the audio signal outside of operating hours. Of the 1,300 PCs with audio signals today, about 460 can be activated beyond its usual operating hours. When PwVI pedestrians tap their SGEnable card, they will be able to activate the crossing tone for the next Green Man.
LTA has also worked with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to implement an additional feature of having the softer locating tone operate for 24-hours to allow PwVIs to easily locate such PCs at all times. This will be implemented at 325 PCs in 10 towns with a higher number of PwVIs by 3Q 2025. We look forward to the support of the community in this effort to make our land transport system more inclusive.
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