Ewenny Roundabout Tactile Indicators Issue

It's clear from all our dealings with BCBC that there is a delay to alleviate the problems the roundabout has caused. We have asked for many issues to be considered and the response has been nil. So in order to focus the mind we thought we would concentrate on one particular issue to see if the council is able to solve one problem at a time.

So here we go with concentrated issue number one, council officers and officials please take note.
The previous crossing had audible warnings as to when it was safe to cross, this is essential for visually impaired pedestrians.
The new system has what is known as "tactile indicators", pictures of the said device are below, click on the pic for a full size picture.

This pic shows the indicator .

So, how can BCBC help, simple really, get them working.

This system has to our knowledge, never worked. It has been mentioned to BCBC numerous times. Please click here to view the text or here to view the scan of BCBC's letter accepting the problem and their promises to look into it.

We called an access consultant from the JMU access partnership (Caroline Clements) who works with the RNIB to ensure visually impaired members of the community are given the facilities they require. She said, "the council have a duty of care to provide facilities to a standard that ensures the safety of all members of the community including visually impaired people. We recommend both audible and tactile signals at crossings, at the very least we urge the council to ensure the tactile rotating cone which they have installed is working correctly."

So to summarize, the modifications to the roundabout were completed in August, it is now December and our visually impaired users cannot safely cross the roundabout. Surely it is not up to residents to point these problems out but a duty of care by the professionals to ensure the safety aspects of the roundabout are in tip top condition.

Hopefully BCBC will respond in somewhat less that the four months that has passed already.
Ok, let's review the situation

1. August 2002, Roundabout goes live

2. October 24th 2002, meeting with Tony Godsell and Tom Fletcher at which tactile indicators was raised.

3. October 28th 2002, letter confirming BCBC would investigate the problem.

4. December 11th 2002, letter sent to BCBC asking for action.

The overall development has many concerns but please can BCBC at least get this essential safety aspect corrected before someone is hurt.

Space reserved for BCBC response.

The Roundabout action group of Ewenny (R.A.G.E).

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