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Home My WebLink About1975-03-04-TSC-min-blind.pdf JIaftnt of lextxxgtIIn, Affassaripmetto Copy Board Members Town Manager 4-2-75 MEMORANDUM 41 TO Allan F. Kenney, Chairman DATE. 3/21/75 PAGE. Board of Selectmen FROM John J. McSweeney, Chairman SUBJECTBedford Street - NX Traffic Safety Committee Mr. Trimhold Reference is made to the Traffic Safety Committee's memo to the Board dated 1/21/75. At its meeting of 3/4/75, the Traffic Safety Committee discussed its memo of 1/21/75 regarding the inappropriateness of a blind person sign on Bedford Street near Reed Street. In this memo, we stated that due to the obliviousness of the motoring public to such signs, we felt it would be to this blind person's benefit not to install the sign. While some may dis- agree with this opinion, we feel it holds true and would like to quote several statistics from the Police Department's table as it appears on Page 39 of Part II of the 1973 Town Report to bolster our position: VIOLATION # CITATIONS ISSUED FINES Speeding 1 ,538 $21 , 125 Traffic Signal 830 8,205 Stop Sign 431 4,665 School Bus Law 91 930 TOTAL 2,890 TOTAL $34,925 This table presents the numbers of citations issued to those motorists who are stopped for these violations. It is estimated that the total , 2,890, is only 0.2% of the violations which actually occur. Noteworthy is the fact that if one is cited for these type of violations, a cash penalty is usually the end result, whereas with the blind person crossing sign, no penalty can be invoked for ignoring it as it is an advisory, and not a regulatory sign. This is not to say that all signs of this particular type are ineffective in all circumstances. For instance, a blind person crossing sign would hold sig- nificant value near the Perkins Institute for the Blind, due mainly to the numbers of blind persons observed by motorists. The use of the sign on Bedford Street cannot be compared to this situation and we again recommend that the request be denied. Those of the Traffic Safety Committee in attendance were John J . McSweeney, Chairman Peter M. Chalpin, Member James Corr, Member Kenneth Briggs, Member PMC/Ift cc Traffic Safety Committee Chief Corr, Police Capt. Lima, Police Kenneth Briggs, Planning Board Peter M. Chalpin, Engineering FTM-1 MP-2M