The Protector of Citizens identified omissions in the work of the Secretariat for Transport of the Belgrade City Administration because it failed to provide sound signals for crossing the street for blind and partially sighted people after it removed the pedestrian traffic light during the reconstruction of traffic lights at pedestrian crossings.
Further to the complaint of the mother of a partially sighted child from Belgrade alleging that the reconstruction of traffic lights at intersections prevented her child from moving independently because pedestrian traffic lights were removed from a large number of intersections, the Protector of Citizens launched an investigation to control the legality and regularity of the Secretariat’s work.
Due to the need to improve the position of children with impaired vision and ensure their better traffic safety, the Protector of Citizens believes that the competent Secretariat must ensure the same level of exercising the rights of persons with impaired vision who were able to move independently before these reconstructions of traffic lights.
For these reasons, it is necessary to take all measures to ensure that at the pedestrian crossings of wide city streets in Belgrade, an audible signal is set for safe crossing of the street, because that would ensure protection and safety not only for children but also for visually impaired adults.
In the recommendation for rectifying the shortcomings, the Protector of Citizens requests that in the future, the City Secretariat install equipment for marking roads for blind and partially sighted people in the form of sound signals for crossing the street at all pedestrian crossings where the pedestrian traffic light on the dividing island is removed.