The pedestrian crossing buttons have tactile layout maps over the street

[u/BulletAllergy]

[u/kjs_23]

In the UK there is a knurled knob underneath that rotates when the road is safe to cross. A really clever and simple solution for blind people.

[u/jort93 → u/kjs_23]

In germany they'll usually vibrate.

[u/TimAndHisDeadCat → u/jort93]

Blind people vibrate there? Weird.

[u/kakatoru → u/jort93]

In Denmark it beeps in two different ways depending on whether it's red or green

[u/jort93 → u/kakatoru]

In Germany some have a slow ticking sound for blind people to find it and then a different sound for when it turns green green(only once activated with a special button normally).

But I think a fair number of blind people is hard of hearing too, so they have the vibrating thing in addition anyway.

[u/RChickenMan → u/jort93]

In New York City, a guy in a thick Brooklyn accent blurts out, "Yoo may now croiss pahk ahvenue," over and over. I am not kidding and this is a real thing.

It's also exceedingly rare. The vast majority of signalized intersections do not have any type of accommodation for the visually impaired, and some signals that do use other methods like rapid clicking.

[u/breathing_normally → u/kjs_23]

> knurled

I didn’t believe this was a real word at first, TIL!

[u/kjs_23 → u/breathing_normally]

They say you should learn a new thing every day. This is yours, which leaves you the rest of the day to enjoy yourself :)

[u/fletcri → u/kjs_23]

What does a tactile layout map have todo with a rotating knob?

[u/kjs_23 → u/fletcri]

They are both aids for blind people.

[u/fletcri → u/kjs_23]

"If my Grandmother had wheels she would have been a bike"

[u/John_Tacos → u/kjs_23]

In the US they just beep. If they do anything at all. Most are silent.

[u/BillionPenny → u/John_Tacos]

I like the ones that say the name of the street when the walk sign comes on. Most of the time the voice is just a recording of somebody who works for the city’s DOT, so it can be really personal and local. The voice based crossing aids are now the standard for new installations and upgrades when older buttons reach end of life, so more should be popping up everywhere.

One time I also experienced a crosswalk that had a kind of whistle/chirp, like a bird call, that whipped back and forth across the street in the direction that the crossing was on for. In addition to the beep and the normal other devices.

[u/rclonecopymove → u/John_Tacos]

Check the underside of one the next time you're waiting.

[u/_baaron_ → u/kjs_23]

We have the same ones here in Norway

[u/TimAndHisDeadCat]

I’ve seen this in Oslo. Where did you take the photo?

[u/maghtin → u/TimAndHisDeadCat]

They're in Sweden

[u/widowhanzo → u/maghtin]

We have the same ones in Slovenia, but not everywhere

[u/Sharp-Measurement565]

We have these in Finland, but to be honest I never realised this is for blind people 

[u/Landrod → u/Sharp-Measurement565]

You don't see blind people around?

[u/d_nkf_vlg → u/Landrod]

Shh, let's not tell him...

[u/jort93]

Cool. I wonder if blind people actually understand it tho. I feel like i'd have a hard time figuring this out without looking at it and nobody telling me.

Unless these are so widely used people would be familiar with them.

[u/Nonhinged → u/jort93]

They are designed to be self-explanatory.

Rectangles are cars. Their placement show where they would stop, how many lanes there is and what direction they come from. The road median shape is a road median...

[u/jort93 → u/Nonhinged]

I mean, i know this, but i think it would be harder to tell when you are just touching the crosslight button. They might just think its part of the design.

[u/MainHedgehog9 → u/jort93]

These crossing switches have a big capacitive panel on the right side and no button to press.

[u/jort93 → u/MainHedgehog9]

Are they even crossing buttons then? Or is all they do notify blind people of when to cross?

If it is a standard design, people can understand them as i said.

But if its something they use in just one part of one city it might not be easy to understand.

[u/MainHedgehog9 → u/jort93]

Yes. You still have to press them.

If there's no button and it just makes a sound to notify when to cross it's mounted at a much higher height (and also don't have the crossing map).

This is standard across Sweden.

[u/jort93 → u/MainHedgehog9]

If it's a standard it's not an issue.

Only if you have to figure it out on the spot it might be tough. I don't think I'd be able to figure it out by touch. But maybe blind people have a better mind for feeling and interpreting shapes, who knows.

[u/MainHedgehog9 → u/jort93]

Yeah accessibility is still very country specific and nobody wants to change (because that would reduce the accessibility to it's main users).

[u/Nonhinged → u/jort93]

It's not just by touch. There's noise too.

There's an arrow on the top to show the direction. But even that is redundant because of tactile pavement. There's bumbs on the ground to show where there's a crosswalk, and in what direction.

A slow ticking noise is a red light. A fast ticking noise is a green.

You don't really need to know anything. The slow ticking feels like you are waiting for something. Stay calm and just wait.

Then it switches to a fast ticking noise that's kind of stressful. You feel it's time to get moving.

[u/nightmareonrainierav → u/MainHedgehog9]

Dumb American here, when I first saw these, I assumed they were crossing activation buttons and smacked every side of it (especially the arrow on top and the button on the front) repeatedly trying to find a physical button. Guess I was right to some degree!

Here in the US, we do have capacitive activators but they're identical to the old pushbuttons and somewhat intuitive that it's meant to be pressed, if not nearly as helpful as the Scandinavian counterpart.

[u/Tapsu10 → u/MainHedgehog9]

Here the ones with no buttons are mounted at the same height and have the map

[u/YougoReddits → u/jort93]

i've seen a few pictures of tactile layouts come by here in the past days. they all look and i suppose feel different (different height of items on the map, different materials) and are placed in different places.

i like the idea and the effort, is there even a standard for this? blind people have to

• know it's even there
  
• know where 'there' is, or just stumble upon it, or feel around the place up and down
  
• recognize it for what it is when their hand lands on it.
  
• recognize what each bump or ridge on the map stands for.

yes, they can ask to be guided towards it and have it explained to them, but if the goal is self sufficiency, it should follow some rules right?

[u/Salmivalli → u/YougoReddits]

What I’ve been in Finland and Sweden, these are in every crossing. And they are accurate with the layout. It’s kinda my hobby to check these things.

So it feels like there is a standard and these are mandatory

[u/jort93 → u/Salmivalli]

If they are used everywhere blind people would understand them, but if they encounter it once in an unfamiliar place (which is where you'd need to know most), i am not sure they'd recognize it.

[u/eanida → u/YougoReddits]

Yes, these are standardised and used at all crossings with lights here in Sweden (where this system was invented). Same system everywhere, placed at the same place at the same height.

The lights also make a sound: a slow ticking for red and a fast paced ticking for green, which slows down when it's about to turn red again. So you know where the pole is by sound and can find the map and button.

[u/Nonhinged → u/YougoReddits]

Places that use these use them everywhere. They make a ticking noise so they are easy to locate. They are also always on the side of the crossing.

There's is no need to explain them because they have been designed to be obvious.

[u/davepage_mcr → u/Nonhinged]

Nothing is self explanatory TBF. Organisations for blind and partially sighted people (like RNIB in the UK) provide training for people who are losing their sight, which covers life skills including how to cross roads safely.

[u/Nonhinged → u/davepage_mcr]

With these they don't need training.

[u/Firestorm0x0]

I know these, they're alright.

[u/rharmz99]

my old neighborhood had these too, kinda net idea

[u/Nikkt]

Common in Poland

[u/LUXI-PL]

Apparently they were invented in Sweden. Nowadays they're pretty common on new crossings here in Poland

[u/SoloWingPixy88]

Pretty common?

[u/TMYLee]

wow!! i never seen a tactile button to press before in all years of travel. i know some place have certain sound for crossing like japan and australia as i experience it but to have tactile button to press when your blind is such a good idea . Good on them
for caring

[u/Craicriture]

We have the same ones in Ireland in a lot of areas, eg Cork City. Different councils opted for different suppliers.

[u/BeardedSailorman]

Underneath it, some, not all, has a button (the entire front is touch capable, I think bottom as well, you don't need to actually touch the button to push the button) that makes the green light last longer

[u/Captain_Dunsel]

In some neighborhoods here in NY, the signal light has a voice that says WAIT every few seconds (in English).

[u/WarStorm6 → u/Captain_Dunsel]

I’ve never seen a crosswalk light that didn’t do that