Agreement Mandates Protections for Pedestrians

Oakland Press

Making roundabouts safe

By Jerry Wolffe
March 7, 2008

A national precedent-setting agreement on making roundabout intersections safe for pedestrians by allowing them to push a button to activate a light and stop traffic has been reached between the Oakland County road commission and an attorney for three disabled men.

A signal light will be placed at each entry point to the roundabout that can be activated by a pedestrian.

Pushing the button will turn a signal light to red to stop the traffic, allowing someone who is blind or physically disabled to more safely cross the roundabout.

In addition, a chirping sound will emit from the traffic poles so a blind individual can know where one is located.

"This is absolutely fantastic," said attorney Richard Bernstein of Farmington Hills, who filed the federal lawsuit last Aug. 14 on behalf of Garret Gersin, Jason Turkish and Mike Harris.

Harris is the executive director of the Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America, based in Novi, and uses a wheelchair. Gersin and Turkish are blind.

"We are genuinely excited about the agreement," said Bernstein, who also is blind. "We have thoroughly enjoyed working with the road commission. It's a real win-win situation."

Gersin, 18, of Oak Park, is studying computer science and plans to become an attorney.

"I will be able to call this a victory when I cross the roundabout safely, but I like the agreement," he said.

Craig Bryson, spokesman for the Road Commission for Oakland County, said the tentative agreement, which was being reviewed by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts on Thursday, will provide safer conditions for all pedestrians.

The agreement must be approved by the Federal Highway Administration and the Michigan Department of Transportation, as well as the parties involved in the lawsuit, Bryson said. No problems are anticipated.

"We run the largest high-technology signal system in the nation," he said. "Fortunately, we have in-house some of the top experts in the nation in this area."

The first push-button system to stop traffic will be installed at the intersection of Maple and Drake roads in West Bloomfield Township sometime this summer, Bernstein said.

Plaintiffs had argued that the existing roundabouts were dangerous and violated the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 - two of the legal pillars for civil rights for 60 million disabled Americans.

"Oakland County is going to be a leader for traffic technology both in flow and safety," Bernstein said. "As a blind person, it means you can live anywhere in the county and move freely and safely where there are roundabouts."

The road commission is implementing the Northwestern Connector Project, which includes the construction of eight roundabouts in West Bloomfield and the city of Farmington Hills.

Under the agreement, the road commission "shall install pedestrian traffic signals with automated, pushbutton crosswalks or other automated devices which may include but are not limited to pedestrian hybrid traffic signals," according to the agreement obtained by The Oakland Press.

"The Maple/Drake roundabout signalization shall operate only when pedestrians are at, or in, the crosswalk and when the pushbuttons are activated by pedestrians," the agreement said.

The data will be evaluated by "the RCOC's engineering experts for impact on traffic flow, congestion, motorist safety, and pedestrian safety, as well as other considerations, including cost and effectiveness," the agreement said.

The cost of constructing the modifications to the roundabouts is undetermined, Bryson and Bernstein said.

"Everyone benefits by increasing safety," Bernstein said. "This is an example of what is good for the disabled is good for everyone.

"This is a landmark case and will become the benchmark" for making sure roundabouts are safe for all pedestrians, he added.

Bernstein said he suspected that all roundabouts in the county and eventually the nation will be designed with the modifications the agreement requires for safety of all pedestrians.

"This is not just going to happen in Oakland County, but throughout the country by other municipalities putting in roundabouts," he said.