Richard Bernstein Challenges Traffic Roundabouts

Traffic Roundabouts Must Comply with Federal Disability Law Says Attorney Richard Bernstein

FOX 2 Detroit TV News - August 2007

News Anchor Huel Perkins:

“One new project in Oakland County is meant to make the commute much easier for all of us, but a lawsuit says that those projects discriminate against blind pedestrians. Roundabout projects, like this one on Maple and Drake in West Bloomfield, are now the focus of a federal lawsuit.

Three people, who are blind, claim that they can’t cross the street now because there are no traffic lights. Without those lights, disabled pedestrians feel it’s impossible to cross the street safely.”

Attorney Richard Bernstein:

“Disabled people will not be able to live in areas of the county. For example, if I can’t cross the street, how am I or my clients able to live in an area? How can we go to work? How can we go to school? How can we go to the store?

I mean this is so basic. We’re simply fighting for the right to cross the street.”

News Anchor Huel Perkins:

“Several roundabout projects are underway in Oakland County right now. A spokesman for the Road Commission says ‘federal studies show that these kinds of roads reduce traffic and lower traffic related deaths by 90%.’”