PEDESTRIANS are to be questioned about whether they want to see £55,000 spent upgrading road crossings to make them safer for blind people.

Darlington Borough Council officers and members of Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) will draw up a report about adjusting the town's pedestrian crossings to provide audible signals.

Blind, elderly and disabled people who attended a public consultation event last November queried why there were no audible crossings in Darlington.

Councils have the choice to install either audible or tactile devices to crossings to help visually impaired people.

Audible crossings use either a series of bleeps when it is safe to cross or a "bleep and sweep" system which allows all users to cross safely but becomes more faint to prevent other people from crossing.

A tactile crossing uses a rotating cone underneath the push button box which rotates when traffic is stopped. It aids people who are both deaf and blind.

Darlington Borough Council chose a system five years ago which solely used a tactile system.

DAD helped the council to develop the policy with support of Darlington Transport Forum.

Gordon Pybus, from DAD, said the system was chosen to be provide consistency across all crossings.

Mr Pybus said using bleepers on crossings was not possible in all locations.

Some systems required the volume to be reduced in residential areas or turned off overnight.

It is also difficult for staggered crossings with islands to use the system because the bleepers could be heard on both sides.

Mr Pybus added that some people relied on the sound of approaching traffic which could be drowned out by the bleepers.

A report will be made to the councils transport forum next week before a wider survey is completed.

Mr Pybus said: "The forum is not a decision-making body. We have made a decision that we will be doing a survey of the types of crossing and ask people if they want bleepers but they will not be on all of them."

Council officers expect the work to fit all suitable crossings would cost £55,000.

The report added: "In reviewing this policy it should be noted that if audible signals were to be introduced it would not be possible to introduce bleepers to all locations for safety reasons.

"This would result in just under half of all sites not having a bleeper."