Ball State University students returned from Winter Break to find the Scramble Light crosswalk time shortened to a five-second countdown, forcing students to, in fact, scramble across the street before the light changed.
This reduced amount of time to cross the street concerned Larry Markle, director of Disabled Student Development.
Markle said he called Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations for Ball State's Facilities, Planning and Management, who told him the City of Muncie controls all traffic signals in the city. Lowe called the city to get the problem fixed.
"They apparently received several calls over the break complaining that no students were on campus and that the traffic signals were still automatically stopping at certain intervals," Lowe said.
In response to the driver complaints, Lowe said the city came out and manually changed the light to count down for only five seconds.
Markle said he hadn't worried about the change during break but was concerned for student safety when school resumed.
The real issue is with the blind students, he said, because they need to know how many seconds they have so they can make a determination on whether to cross.
Lowe said the city restored the light Wednesday to have 10 chirps and then a 10-second countdown, giving students a total of 20 seconds to cross, Lowe said. That is the standard default for traffic signals, he said.
However, Markle said the original countdown of the Scramble Light before Winter Break was 10 chirps and then a 20-second countdown.
He said he was concerned that students were not informed of any of the alterations made to the traffic signal.
"I would be a little concerned that that is not enough time (to cross), especially without any advanced notice for students with disabilities," he said.
Markle called Lowe again Thursday, and Lowe said he would get in touch with the city as soon as possible to have the light changed back to a 20-second countdown.
"We prefer they not modify it at all," Lowe said. "Even if they get a request from someone who happens to be a driver, don't modify the timing."
He said the university hoped it would not happen again.
THE FUTURE OF THE SCRAMBLE LIGHT
The Scramble Light will not be a staple on Ball State's campus for much longer.
Plans to change the Scramble Light to be the same as the light at the intersection of Neely and McKinley avenues are part of the McKinley Project, the first phase of which was completed last summer.
The traffic signal at Neely and McKinley avenues also has disability-friendly technology, Markle said.
"In terms of accessibility, that traffic signal is state of the art," he said.
The traffic signal pole constantly emits a low beeping noise that lets blind students know where the pole is located.
The traffic signal also chirps when students are supposed to walk in the north-south direction and coos when students are supposed to walk in the east-west direction. If a student presses the crosswalk button on the pole, the signal will give an audio countdown of how many seconds students have to cross the street.
Markle said the visually-impaired students were trained on how this light operates.
"My goal and the university's goal is eventually each of the three traffic signals on campus will have the same features," Markle said.
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