Kate Mayer
|
October 25, 2002 |
Dear Access Board,
I am opposed to proposed plans to install detectable warnings and audible
traffic signals at intersections across America. Many blind people may feel that
such devices are helpful or even necessary, but the fact is that good travel
skills make these modifications moot. The unfortunate reality is that blind
people are often not afforded the opportunity to develop these crucial skills.
I received training at the Louisiana Center for the Blind that has enable me to
hold jobs and travel independently in Louisiana, New York and, currently,
Illinois. I commute daily to downtown Chicago on public transportation. I use a
long white cane, my hearing and my skills of observation to navigate safely
through busy, crowded streets and sidewalks. I move quickly and would never stop
to activate an audible traffic signal and wait to listen to it. There is enough
noise downtown without signals chirping and beeping to add to the din.
Did it ever occur to you that a blind person moving directly toward a pole to
activate a signal would send chills up the spines of the sighted? They think we
won't stop in time and will run right into the pole! Your proposal makes a class
of people the public generally thinks to be somewhat odd and unusual look even
more so by making us adopt strange stopping and reaching behavior at each
intersection.
One other thought: Will these devices tell us when vehicles are running the red
light? There is one thing that technology will never be able to replace, and
that is common sense. My safety is most protected by my own God-given ability to
size up my circumstances. Listening to traffic is the surest way to determine
what the vehicles are doing. Lights do not provide that information, even to the
sighted.
Please consider that funding of the magnitude proposed for this project could
provide the blind of America with a personal chauffeur for life, eliminating the
need for any of us to step foot on a public walkway again. Realistically, the
investment would be best used to give blind people opportunities for meaningful
training that would enable us to participate on equal terms with our sighted
peers and change public attitudes through example and experience.
Thank you for your consideration.
Kate Mayer
Data Systems Analyst
Implementation and Setup Unit
ABN AMRO Services Company
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