Detectable warning surfaces at platform boarding edges shall be 24 inches
(610 mm) wide and shall extend the full length of the platform
Robert M. Burke, Jr., September 8, 2002
I would like you to pass the PROWAC Report and send it to the Federal Register for final comment.
Early one morning in November, 1998, my brother was going to work at the New York City Industries For the Blind. Some how he slipped off the platform and had to go to the hospital. While in the hospital he died of a heart attack.
Unfortunately there was no detectible warning strip on the edge of the platform to tell him that he was at the end of the platform and might be falling onto the tracks.
Just maybe if there had been detectible warning strips at the end of the platform he might be alive today.
So please pass the PROWAC Report so that detectible warning strips might be permanent fixtures on edges of subway platforms to save lives of people with limited vision or no vision alive.
Cordially yours
Robert M. Burke, Jr.
Treasure
Old Dominion council Of the Blind and Visually Impaired
Charlottesville, Va
Winifred Downing, September 13, 2002
I want to stress the importance of detectable warning strips on platforms and of audible pedestrian signals. Of the latter, we have none in San Francisco but are hoping for better cooperation as the idea becomes better known.
I did not travel on Municipal Railroad or Bay Area Rapid Transit until the warnings were installed because I was so concerned about platform edges. Often it is necessary to follow the platform edge to locate an appropriate exit, and doing that without the warning strip was very frightening. Please uphold these types of accommodation.
Winifred Downing