Huh? Talking Signal Leaves Travelers Scratching Their Heads At JFK Airport
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A pedestrian safety initiative at John F. Kennedy International Airport gets an "A" for effort but an "F" when it comes to execution.
By Friday night, the sound coming from a signal device had been silenced. But two days before, CBS2's Tony Aiello heard something strange coming out of it and decided to get to the bottom of it.
It's not clear how long pedestrians crossing the roadway at Terminal 4 were subjected to the sound.
When the installation of the talking signals was announced, JFK-IAT -- the private company that manages Terminal 4 -- hailed it as an "unprecedented push for roadway safety."
Unprecedented, maybe. Unintelligible, oh yeah.
"I'm thinking 'Lindsey' or 'onesie.' From a safety standpoint, I think it's ineffective. I can tell you that," one traveler said.
"English is not my first language, it's French. So that might be the reason, but I can't get it," said traveler Fred Fraisse. "I've been living here 20 years, I can't get it."
Even the Port Authority is baffled.
A spokeswoman checked but could not tell CBS2 what the voice is supposed to be saying. So, the agency turned the voice off and is looking into a fix.