Q. Why did the Geek cross the road?

A.  To get a better look at the Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS).

Have you been at intersections and heard the push button talking to you (Wait. Wait. Wait.), or chirping like a manic sparrow?  These crossings have always peaked my interest. How do they work? Who makes them? Can I make the little speaker yell "RUUUUUUN!" at a specified time of my choosing?

These questions would pop in my head every time I drove by, so I decided it was time to do a little research.


First off, as far as I can tell, these 'talking' pedestrian signals are currently (2012) only being manufactured by one company. Yes, just one. So it would seem this is a fairly new technology.  The company behind this  genius tech is Polara Engineering out of Corona, California.  They create products used by many industries, including Traffic Management.

I was hoping, and happy to see that their website includes all the installation and operation manuals for their traffic products.  From here you can look at pages and pages of information.

I'm not going to go into great detail. You can read the manuals yourself, if you want to learn more.

Here is the Basic Setup:

1.   Their software communicates from their Central Control Unit to the individual intersection push buttons with digital data, over two low voltage wires. These wires also supply all of the power for the pushbuttons.

2. The Central Control Unit is installed in the Traffic Control Cabinet.

In my town, they are getting painted up by local artists.

3. The push buttons (EPBS) are installed on the traffic poles.

4. Run a system check to make sure everything can talk to each other.

5. Set preferences with E-Configurator.

6. Done!

 So what I'm interested in mainly, is the audio setup. This is part of the software, which is loaded in the Central Control Unit.

You can configure the setup using an E-Configurator. 

 From the manual:
"The E-Configurator is a battery operated hand-held device for making changes to the operating characteristics of Polara Navigator and EZ Communicator Push Button Stations (EPBS). 

It uses two-way infrared communication while held in front of a EPBS and pointed toward the red LED above the EPBS arrow button."









Sounds easy enough. Of course, it is password protected (factory default is AAAA).

Where could you find an E-configurator? Well, there are places, if you look around.

Using the Navigator Configurator (E-Config), you have access to a lot of setup options. As far as audio goes, you can change volume levels, and things like that. But what about a new audio file altogether?

Short answer.. No.

"Programming custom messages in the field requires a laptop, USB A/B cable and
the Polara EPBS Audio Programmer software. The software must be installed and
messages prepared prior to installation of the units on the intersection.
[...]
 if units are to be programmed in the field, a laptop with the proper software and voice messages must be prepared prior to installation on the intersection."

Polara has their own Youtube video that walks you through custom audio setup. But it's all done prior to installation.  I was disappointed by this, but reading the manuals was still pretty interesting.

 For example, the system can vary the volume of the audio based on how much ambient noise there is. And an 'extended push' option, where it will say additional information (street names), if the button is pushed and held longer.

Just know the internet is full of manuals. So if there is a gadget you have an interest in, it's worth taking a look.