[nfb-talk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt Wish

Sat Jan 5 21:01:35 CST 2008

Dear R.J.

Who said anything about Blind people doing something wrong?

It was wrong of the car to pull out in front of you.
The White Cane Law, says that ALL vehicles approaching an intersection, 
where a person, bearing a white can or being led by a guide dog, must come 
to a full stop and must not proceed until the person has reached the safety 
of the other side.  Basically, that is what it says.

David Evans, NFBF
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RJ Sandefur" <rjs59 at hotmail.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 8:10 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt Wish

> Ok. So was it OKay for a car to just pull out in front of me, when I was
> crossing the street last week? Its not the blind persons fault always. 
> What
> about drivers? RJ
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: "Discussion of new quiet cars and pedestrian safety"
> <quietcars at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 6:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt Wish
>
>
>> Hello David and listers,
>>
>>    Some thoughts appear below your first paragraph and will be indicated
>> with a *:
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "David Evans" <drevans at bellsouth.net>
>> To: "Kathy Davis" <kdavisnfbf at cfl.rr.com>; "Dwight Sayer"
>> <repcodds at aol.com>; <MisterAdvocate at aol.com>; "Gloria Mills"
>> <gloria at irescue-tax.com>; "Dan Hicks" <danjhicks at yahoo.com>; "Dan Hicks"
>> <danjhicks at hotmail.com>
>> Cc: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 4:37 PM
>> Subject: [nfb-talk] Fw: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt Wish
>>
>>
>> Re: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt WishDear Jodie and Kirk,
>>
>> I would ask you to think of this.  Funding is now very limited due to the
>> property tax cuts coming down from the State to all of the local
>> governments.
>> Which do you think should have a higher priority.  Public Transportation
>> or
>> audible traffic signals?
>> There is no information , that can not be gotten by just using your ears.
>> You hear the parallel traffic surge forward and you know the light has
>> changed.  It does not have to beep to tell you this.  Your hearing is not
>> having to compete with the beeping to pick out the sound of a car slowing
>> down to make a right on red.  You are not becoming dependent upon a 
>> method
>> that causes you to let down your guard and makes your mobility skills
>> erode.
>> You are less likely to build up a bad habit of just trusting the sound of
>> the beeping light over the travel techniques you should be using to
>> protect
>> yourself.
>>
>> *
>>    This will become especially true as the amount of hybrid vehicles on
>> our
>> roads increases. More hybrid vehicles means less audio traffic flow;
>> traffic
>> noise that would be easily drowned out by an audible traffic signal.
>>
>> This hit home with Mary and I yesterday while on our way home from taking
>> care of some business downtown. As we were walking down Lorenz Road on 
>> the
>> way to our apartment complex we heard an all-so-slight swushing sound 
>> like
>> what you would hear when a car passes you buy. A sudden rush of air
>> against
>> our bodies as the, "Noise" passed us buy helped us put two and two
>> together.
>> We had a close encounter of the hybrid vehicle kind. Had we been trying 
>> to
>> cross at an intersection that had an audible pedestrian signal  installed
>> which we could not disable in order to hear the traffic patterns more
>> clearly there's no way we would have heard that vehicle pass in front of
>> us.
>> One, or both of us could have been seriously injured or killed.
>>
>>    For my money increasing funding for public transportation and the
>> availability of quality travel instruction for the blind along with
>> increasing efforts to ensure that hybrid vehicles meet a minamum sound
>> standard will be far more benificial than spending it on the installation
>> of
>> audible pedestrian signals.
>>
>> ----
>>
>> The lights cost almost as much as a Para-transit van to install and
>> maintain.
>> If you are going to ask your County to spend money on something that best
>> serves the Community,it should be better Public Transportation and not
>> audible traffic signals.  They give you nothing that you don't already
>> have
>> by just listening and using your mobility training.
>> Audible traffic signals don't protect you.  Good mobility skills and
>> listening to the traffic does.
>> The "Walk" "Don't Walk" lights at an intersection are there mostly to
>> serve
>> children and seniors who have not got or are losing the judgment to tell
>> when it is the right time to begin crossing.  They are still required to
>> stop, look and listen to make sure it is safe.
>> The problem is that people get lazy or in to a bad habit of just walking
>> into the intersection when they hear the beeping of the signal and forget
>> everything else.  Their bad habits then become the problem by depending
>> upon
>> the sound instead of their good sense.  This is especially so for 
>> seniors.
>> I respect your wanting to have access to everything that the sighted do,
>> but
>> you already do have it in just listening to the traffic sounds of who is
>> moving and who is stopped.
>> Please consider which is going to be of more benefit to you and everybody
>> else.  Public Transportation should be your top priority and not audible
>> traffic signals.  You will get more support for the transit than you will
>> audible signals.  People who live next to audible signals hate the noise
>> and
>> may even ask that they be removed because they cause a nuisance and may
>> effect their property values.  They can ask that the signal be monitored
>> and
>> removed if the signal is not used a certain number of times a month.  It
>> has
>> happened here in Palm Beach County.
>> The ACB got one installed at an intersection in West Palm Beach , but the
>> County removed it after less than 2 months at the request of nearby
>> residents.
>> Think about it.  .
>>
>> Your friend to the South.
>>
>> David Evans, NFBF
>>
>>
>> Peter Donahue
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: David Evans
>> To: 'NFB of Florida Listserv'
>> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 6:44 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt Wish
>>
>>
>> Dear Jodie and Kirk,
>>
>> Audible traffic signals are not a requirement under the ADA.  Just so you
>> know.
>> Your money would be better spent funding a couple of good mobility
>> instructors and buying and funding some Public Transportation vehicles.
>> One signal would buy a lift equipped van.
>>
>> The audible signals build up a false sense of security in the minds of 
>> too
>> many people , especially seniors.  The seniors trust the signals too much
>> and just think that they are safe if the darn thing is beeping.  They
>> believe the cars are going to all stop and this does not happen.
>> Here in Palm Beach County, we have had a number of seniors, who can see,
>> who
>> have been hit and some killed using audible signals.
>> Heck, Robert Miller, the former State president of the Florida ACB  and
>> even
>> Debby Grub have been hit at audible traffic signals in the last two 
>> years.
>> They both should have had an extra layer of protection as they both use
>> guide dogs which are trained to disobey a lawful command if they sense
>> danger.  They still got hit.
>> There were two Blind students at the Florida Training Center in Daytona
>> struck at a audible signal right outside of the Center.
>> The signal has been around for years and is special as it makes all of 
>> the
>> lights, in all four directions, turn red at the same time.
>> The students got lazy and just depended upon the signal to tell them it
>> was
>> safe to cross.  They forgot to use their good street crossing techniques
>> and
>> they got hit.  They got lazy and didn't stop, look and listen to the
>> traffic.
>> Most good Blind travelers will tell you that they are not worth the cost
>> for
>> what they do.    This just sucks off funding that would be better spent 
>> on
>> mobility instruction and good Public Transportation.
>> By the way, Jodie.  It sounds like you have taken over the seat that
>> Brenda
>> Gillis use to sit on there in Martin County.  She was a real champion for
>> Public Transportation there and use to have monthly go around with the
>> County Commissioner over transit funding and the policies and practices 
>> of
>> Community Coach.
>> I would be glad to work with you on the issue.
>> Are you planning to go up to Tallahassee for TD Day on March 6, 2008?
>>
>> If you are interested in going, but do not have a way, I might be able to
>> help.
>> I am taking a chartered bus load of advocates up to the Capitol on March 
>> 5
>> and coming back on March 7.
>> This is something that I have been organizing for the past 8 years here 
>> in
>> Palm Beach County.
>> If you are interested, call me at (561) 482-5684 (Home), or on my cell at
>> (561) 789-2488.
>> Did you know that a fixed bus route is being proposed to run from St. 
>> Lucy
>> County down to Palm Beach County through Martin?
>> I sit on the steering committee.  The DOT is going to fund it for at 
>> least
>> 2
>> to 3 years.
>> I am still pushing the Tri-Rail to extend up to Stuart also.  It likely
>> won't happen now for another 5 to 7 years because of these darn budget
>> cuts,
>> but there is hope.
>> There is another man there in Martin that works for Braille 
>> International.
>> His name is Mark Tardif I think.  I am looking forward to working with 
>> him
>> also.
>>
>> David Evans, NFBF
>>
>> -----Original Message----- 
>> From: nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbf-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf
>> Of Jody W. Ianuzzi
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2008 7:00 PM
>> To: NFB of Florida Listserv
>> Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] A Heart-felt Wish
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> Yes, I agree there is a major problem with public transportation in 
>> Martin
>> county.  I was appointed to the citizen Advisory committee for the Martin
>> county Metropolitan Planning Organization.  I am pushing for public
>> transportation, audible pedestrian traffic signals and many other 
>> changes.
>> I see the county spending a fortune on road improvements and each time I
>> remind them that making ADA updates is part of the requirement for road
>> improvements.
>>
>> it has been very frustrating, to say the least.
>> JODY
>>
>> "WE MUST BE THE CHANGE WE WISH
>> TO SEE IN THE WORLD" ~ Gandhi
>>
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