Blind man gets €4,000 over pedestrian crossings

COUNCIL officials who switched off the audible warnings on pedestrian crossings to “safeguard” sighted people have settled a case taken by a blind user left stranded at the side of the road.

Dublin City Council agreed to pay local man, Des Murphy, €4,000 in compensation and promised to make all crossings safe and consult with blind users about any future changes to the audible signals or other features.

Mr Murphy was one of many blind and visually impaired pedestrians suddenly marooned in the city centre in the summer of 2004 after the council without warning turned off the audible beeps that tell users when it is safe to cross.

The council’s excuse was that the sound was a danger to sighted pedestrians who could be confused by beeps coming from other crossings nearby and mistakenly cross the road while the traffic was still moving.

This was despite the fact that no such complaint had been received in writing by the council and no prior consultation had taken place with the main representative group, the National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI).

Mr Murphy wrote to the council detailing the difficulties caused to him but the matter remained unresolved until he took a case under the Equal Status Act claiming discrimination on the grounds of his disability.

At a two-day hearing, during which he was represented by the Equality Authority, Mr Murphy described how the council’s actions had made it extremely hard for him to be independently and safely mobile in his own city.

Dublin City Council did not admit liability for Mr Murphy’s difficulties but did agree to pay him compensation and to switch back on the audible signals wherever the poles marking adjoining crossings were at least three metres apart.

In the case of crossings that were closer together, the council agreed to move the poles and their audible units further apart, or either synchronise the traffic signals so that the units bleeped simultaneously or install tactile devices on the poles so that was another method of signalling when the traffic had stopped.

Niall Crowley, chief executive of the Equality Authority, said Dublin City Council by its actions had shown “complete disregard” for people with impaired vision.

NCBI chief executive Des Kenny welcomed the council’s agreement to consult with the organisation in future. “What this settlement does is create a new partnership between Dublin City Council and NCBI to ensure the interests of vision impaired people are properly considered.”

As part of the settlement, Mr Murphy agreed to withdraw claims against theDepartment of Transport and the Department of Environment and Local Government.