Dublin City Council has defended its decision to turn off audible signals at pedestrian crossings in central Dublin after the move was criticised by the National Council for the Blind of Ireland this morning.
The council began turning off the sound at many multiple point pedestrian crossings last year due to concerns that the sound was confusing and therefore a danger to the sighted community.
The DCC’s Director of Traffic, Owen Keenan, said the council had to take a balanced view and there was no point in having one policy to help one group of people which put others in danger.
Mr Keenan said he hoped a situation could be arrived at where everybody was happy about crossing Dublin city centre roads in safety.
He said the council had had all the sites where the audible signals had been turned off independently reviewed, and a quarter had been found to be safe, and the signal turned back on.
He added that the council was testing a tactile unit that could be fixed to pedestrian crossings which would signal when the light had turned green by emitting vibrations.
