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City of Lethbridge testing out speaker technology at some intersections

The City of Lethbridge has partnered with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) to test out something new at a few downtown crosswalks.

Speakers have been installed at intersections along 4th Avenue at 7th and 8th Streets and at Stafford Drive as well.

Road Infrastructure Manager, Richard Brummund says people who are visually impaired will be able to activate the signal with a special key fob or by using a smart phone app. “Really, what they’re offering is a wireless mobility technology that allows the visually impaired to actually activate the crosswalk.”

The voice command on the speakers, when activated, will give folks a location as to where they are and also initiates the chirping sound so people know it’s safe to cross.

The CNIB approached the City earlier this year. The organization has also partnered up with a small company called Key2Access, which aims to create inclusive communities.

Brummund says the trial will take place over the next year to see if it’s something the City wants to keep doing.

Patrick Siedlecki
Patrick Siedlecki
Pat has been a mainstay in the CJOC News department from the time the station launched in 2007. He's been in the position of News Director since then and has been anchoring daily news casts as well as reporting and working behind the scenes. Community is important to him and keeping CJOC listeners and readers informed about what's happening across southern Alberta and beyond. Pat has been in radio broadcasting for the past 24 years, starting in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island in 1997 and then moving up island to Nanaimo for another few years before heading to Lethbridge in 2007. Pat grew up in the small Saskatchewan farming town of Foam Lake. After high school, he went to Western Academy Broadcasting College (WABC) in Saskatoon prior to moving to the island. Pat also spent several years broadcasting hockey in the BCHL as well as seven years as the radio voice of the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the WHL. Pat has been working at Cornerstone Funeral Home in Lethbridge as a Certified Life Celebrant and Funeral Assistant since 2016. News and sports have always been Pat's passion from the time he was a teenager and he's always been grateful to have had the opportunity to make that part of what's been a fun and long radio career!
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