[real-eyes] Fw: Please post to real-eyes
- From: "Reginald George" <sgeorge@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <nut@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 13:55:03 -0500
Please excuse the cross post. I realize that this is a technology list, but
Chip has many friends here, and I know we are all concerned.
----- Original Message -----
From: Sheila Styron
I work as the public policy coordinator for The Whole Person and represent this
organization with the city on accessibility issues. It was in this capacity
that I contacted Sergeant Fuller, lead investigator for the August 31 traffic
incident where Chip Block was fatally struck down.
This is what Sergeant Fuller told me about this accident, and this officer had
been unaware of Chip's visual impairment prior to speaking with me.
The events were clearly filmed by a Max bus camera. The driver, a woman with
two dogs in her car was proceeding from west to east on 31st with the sun in
her eyes. She was first in line for the left arrow and when she got it, turned
left. The crosswalk was apparently in some amount of shade, and she hit Chip as
he was walking across Main in the crosswalk from east to west traveling along
the north side of the intersection. The film of the incident clearly shows that
Chip did not have the light and was not running.
The intersection at 31st and Main is one where the city has been promising to
install an accessible pedestrian signal since around this time last year. The
Children's Center for Low Vision is right there along with the Rehabilitation
Institute. Consumer groups, orientation and mobility instructors who train
visually impaired people to travel safely and several individuals all
identified 31st and Main as a priority installation. The city has been dragging
its feet, and I recently spoke with the contractor who has the job and says he
has experienced difficulties being paid for his work in a timely fashion. The
most recent deadline for completion on a list of 7 APS installations designated
as priorities and including 31st and Main is currently set for the end of
September. I feel certain that this heartbreaking untimely death could have
most likely been avoided had there been an accessible pedestrian signal at 31st
and Main.
Sheila Styron, Public Policy Coordinator
The Whole Person
3420 Broadway Suite 105
Kansas City, MO 64111
Work: 816.561.0304
Mobile: 816.896.6552
Fax: 816.753.8163
E-mail: sstyron@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe or to leave the list, or to set other subscription options, go to
www.freelists.org/list/real-eyes
Other related posts:
