Peter Eastaugh has nearly been struck by vehicles on several occasions when crossing local roads.
As a person navigating the world with low vision, Dr Eastaugh walks everywhere, relying on the safety of pedestrian crossings and, when crossing major roads, the traffic signals.
At traffic lights, Dr Eastaugh’s 18 per cent vision in one eye and glass eye in the other stops him from seeing the “little man that says walk”.
Instead, he depends on the auditory and vibration systems of the traffic signals to cross the road.
“When you get to a crossing, you would be aware there’s a sound that tells you when to walk,” he said.
“But also, above the button, there’s an arrow that tells you which direction to go in, and that arrow vibrates when it’s time for you to cross.”
When the traffic signals aren’t working, which has been the case for more than a year, according to Dr Eastaugh, it’s deeply frustrating, distressing and quite literally stalling.
“A year ago, I had conversations with the City of Greater Shepparton because I was very frustrated by the fact that frequently the auditory or the vibration weren’t working. In other words, they were both not working,” he said.
“I would have to stand at the crossing and wait for somebody to come along so I could walk across.
“I got told by council whenever I find one that’s not working, ring up and let us know and for a year I did, until I wrote a letter to the Shepparton News in frustration.”
Dr Eastaugh mentioned defective traffic signals on Knight St near St Brendan’s Church (for the past three months) and another near John Anderson Pharmacy on Wyndham St (for the past four weeks at the time of writing).
“You notify, and still nothing gets done about it,” he said.
“For low-vision people, it’s quite hazardous.
“To me, it’s simple: I’m happy to report them, but then they tell me there’s nothing wrong with them — I’m not stupid, I’m a fairly educated person.
“I feel very let down by the City of Greater Shepparton for not maintaining what I believe to be a very simple safety procedure for people with low vision.”
Greater Shepparton City Council responded to the alleged inaction, stating that VicRoads was responsible for maintaining all the signals on its roads, council roads and some private sites in our region.
Regarding the signals specifically, council said all sites with any pedestrian movements had audible signals; however, they might not be obvious as you walked past a site, as the volume was lower until the pedestrian button was pressed.
The volume can be changed at some of the sites (depending on the age and brand of the signal equipment).
Since 2019, VicRoads has operated under the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning.
The department’s acting regional director (Hume), Emma Bamford, said traffic lights under the Department of Transport and Planning’s operation received routine maintenance servicing every six months.
In addition, crews carry out non-routine repairs to traffic lights when faults are reported or identified.
“We’re committed to providing and maintaining all accessible options across the road network, and we consider safety our number one priority,” she said.
“Our crews repaired the traffic lights located on Wyndham St, close to Fraser St, last week (early September) following a report that the signal was experiencing a fault, and we’re currently scheduling repairs for the Knight St traffic lights as soon as possible.”
The Department of Transport and Planning encourages all road users, including pedestrians, to report any concerns about the road network by calling 13 11 70.
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