Monday, March 28, 2016

New Tune Replaces Chirping Bird at Canadian Intersections

Crosswalk Prince George 1The bird chirp is getting edged out by the Canadian Melody for the most common sound heard at Prince George crosswalks in British Columbia.

According to CBC News, the four-tone tune is replacing the sound of a bird chirping at crosswalks across Canada and was recently brought to Prince George.

The melody was created because officials worried the sound of birds chirping was too easy for real birds to mimic. This could be confusing to visually impaired people who rely on the sound to  help them cross streets more safely by alerting them to the walk signal and providing directional sounds to move towards.

Pedestrians say the new tune is similar to an ice cream truck or the horn of a clown car (really? A clown car??). Some have even called it annoying. But the point is that it is loud and clear.

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About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.