New traffic light system for the blind in Palma

PALMA celebrated “A Day without Cars” yesterday, part of a European project entitled “Mobility Week”, although the effect, according to many people, was “negligible.” Palma's Mayor, Catalina Cirer, who advocated “education for the public on the use of public transport” instead of imposing measures against traffic “that are deeply unpopular and have little effect”. Cirer was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of a new, state-of-the-art traffic light system for the blind which the city council has installed at 60 crossroads in Palma. The project has been a brainchild of the ONCE Foundation for the Blind, IMSERSO (social services), and Palma City Council. At a cost of some 90'000 euros, its aim has been to “improve the mobility of blind people along the streets of Palma”. The Mayor explained that the new traffic light system is triggered by the user pressing a small button. When it is safe to cross, the lights emit a short, audible sound which varies in intensity according to the level of environmental noise. Cirer confirmed that these new devices substitute the acoustic traffic lights installed in 1994 which “have now become obsolete”.
In the view of Carmen Soler, the head of Social Services at the ONCE Foundation, this measure will enable blind people to overcome “one of the biggest obstacles that they have to confront when they move about the streets of the city”. These trafflic lights have been installed on the crossroads of the busiest streets in Palma.
Speaking about the success of the first 100 days in power of the new government, the Mayor stressed that “it was too little time to make a judgement on objectives achieved”. In spite of that, she said she felt that the city had benefited from more than three months of her new team being in control of Palma city council. She added that this period of time had seen a team of people, who didn't have in-depth knowledge about the functioning of the city council, become a professional, cohesive unit. Cirer offered this summing up of the performance of the new government team in resolving some of the difficult issues that they had had to face since coming to power. These included the “Rent a Car” conflict, involving the parking of fleets of vehicles for hire on unauthorized rural territory, and the issues surrounding cleaning procedures in certain of the City's districts.