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

Sun Jan 6 09:47:01 CST 2008

RJ, Like I said earlier, It all falls back to the Human Factor! Kirk
----- 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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