Amy Verwoerd navigates from her Walnut Grove home around the Langleys and beyond day to day. But the visually impaired resident who relies on a cane would like a bit of help to get around safely.
She said her challenges include the crossing box, inconsistency of the traffic signals, and trying to find where the pole is to push the button to cross, and sometimes having to step into a ditch to try to find the pole.
Safety was the key concern for Verwoerd, Monica Nelson and her guide dog, Harley, and Walkers Caucus pedestrian safety advocate Vic Leach as they escorted Langley City Mayor Nathan Pachal from the Glover Road bus loop to city hall on Thursday, June 13, so he could understand the challenges and concerns visually impaired people face when walking around his community.
"If it's a bit busier intersection, I don't have any hope," the visually impaired woman commented. I have to rely solely on if there's somebody else standing here with me to know when to go and what direction, and hope that they're wearing a bright colour."
Pachal said he gained a new perspective on getting around the City and noted that it has infrastructure that is up to a century old but is adding accessability features as areas are refurbished or built anew.
"We have, like all municipalities, an accessibility committee now," he noted.
The City is looking at using a consultant to study how the municipality can have effective and consistent infrastructure.
But even new infrastructure can also be a challenge. The angled curbs at corners that make it easier and safer for wheelchairs, walkers, and people with limited mobility, are often at the corner. They guide the visually impaired person straight into the middle of the vehicle lanes, instead of into marked crosswalks.
"The blind have to be able to detect if traffic has stopped and it is safe to proceed, listen for crossing signals, and if they have been on the route a number of times and do not have a guide dog, it may be counting their steps to put them in approximation of an entrance to a door," Leach told the Langley Advance Times. "Some who are blind can use echo location to locate obstacles, although we find this is not used as often with seniors. Obstacles such as sandwich board signs or construction where the sidewalk is blocked add in challenges."
Each traffic light the group approached had a different crossing sound for the visually impaired and different signals, another lack of consistency that makes navigation and safety problematic. With traffic, pedestrians may not be able to hear the sound coming from the other side of the intersection, which is intended to guide them through the crosswalk to the sidewalk. Sometimes the sound signal stops before the person has crossed.
Monica Nelson and her guide dog, Harley, often come from their Cloverdale home to Langley City and Township where Nelson's children live. Inconsistencies are always a concern.
"The dog finds the signal for me, but it's confusing if it's not always on the same side [of the pole]," she noted.
Nelson and Verwoerd admit they are concerned about the arrival of SkyTrain and how it will impact their ability to navigate.
Another factor of concern is that traffic has become more complicated over time.
"Over the years, we find that there has been a number of changes in how traffic patterns evolve as well as how pedestrians are viewed," Leach said.
In the 60 years from 1960 to 2019, the population of B.C. increased 3.15 times to about 5.1 people. In that same time motor vehicles in B.C. increased 6.87 times to about 3.4 million motor vehicles.
"The number of roads did not increase significantly over that period of time so we find more parked vehicles on the street, and the push has been to accommodate more vehicle traffic over the roads and across intersections," he said. "In the past few years, municipalities are adding bicycle lanes and are now trying to fit in 1, 2, 3, 4 or more wheeled e-mobility devices which do not presently need operator's licenses, insurance, minimum age limit, head lights, tail light, helmet or other protective wear."
Scooters, e-bikes and other quiet motorized vehicles pose a new threat for the visually impaired.
"They're coming up so fast, and they are going on the sidewalks," Leach said. "Many of them don't even know what a guide dog is and they don't know what a white cane means."
The Walkers Caucus went for a similar educational walk with Township Councillors Michael Pratt and Tim Baillie, in the Willowbrook retail area in late July, and has been invited to make a presentation before council in September.
"This walk opened my eyes to very basic and critical needs of the visually impaired," Baillie told Black Press Media. "Most of the issues that were pointed out are easily accommodated. Participating with the people in this practical fashion was very useful and informative for myself, and I would urge others to do this walk and to listen to the people that faced these issues daily."
Leach explained that people may not even realize a person is legally blind or visually impaired.
"We estimate in B.C. that there are about 16,500 people based on B.C. stats of 5.5 million in 2023. This would indicate that within Langley City and Township of Langley, with a population of about 170,000, there would be 510 people who are severely visually impaired," he noted. "Although many of them may use a white cane or a guide dog, we have learned that a percentage of them use neither a white cane or a guide dog. Thus they exist and you may have passed a number of them and were not aware that the person is legally blind."
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