1. TRANSPORT AD: Boeing Airplanes Transport – Owen Forbes, Mrs Yassa/ Mrs Bowen

2. The Audio-Tactile Pedestrian Detector The Audio-Tactile Pedestrian Detector (ATPD) helps hundreds of thousands of visually and/or aurally impaired persons, and normal pedestrians, to safely cross the street all over Australia, the USA and Singapore daily. Many people do not realise the great impact it has, as an Australian invention, on the lives of so many people, and their safe pedestrian transport.

3. How the ATPD has had a significant impact on everyday life in Australia in the post-war period. The Audio-Tactile Pedestrian Detector, known to most of us as just the ‘button at the pedestrian crossing’, is an Australian invention that has received less than its deserved credit and attention, as it has and continues to be an extremely important development in the history of transport, and has had significant effects on transport in post-war Australia. A joint initiative of Louis A. Challis and Associates Pty Ltd, and the RTA, the ATPD was invented between 1980 and 1985, and production since 1985 has been handled by 3 manufacturers. The ATPD every day makes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Australia and other nations/states where the product had been exported to – the USA and Singapore – so much safer when they use pedestrian transport infrastructure. Because crossing busy roads is such a frequent occurrence in these countries, this invention has had extremely wide usage and exposure, with the probable majority of Australians having used the ATPD at some point. The ATPD is so effective because of its clever design. It improved on previous designs with its extreme sturdiness, and ease of use by tactile and aural means. The button on the ATPD is designed to withstand millions of presses. The raised arrow lets visually impaired pedestrians know the direction of the crossing, and the vibrating square in the middle of it assists visually and aurally impaired people by sending a strong tactile signal to someone touching the ATPD. Not only this, but a widely known and clear sound signal resonates from the device, coupled with the universally recognised ‘Green Man’ and ‘Red Man’ solid and flashing signals for Go, Don’t Start and Stop, combine to make a very effective and safe device. The Audio-Tactile Pedestrian Detector is a device that many Australians and people from other countries do not give much thought to, but in reality it is an extremely valuable and important Australian innovation that is very important in the history of post-war transport technology, and keeps countless pedestrians safe every day around the world.