Blind and visually impaired use near parallel traffic which firstly indicates
that the light is green in the direction the pedestrian wants to cross.
Secondly, the near parallel traffic forms a wall of protection as well as
guidance to stay traveling in a straight line.
The lane by lane piece has to be mentioned. When the near parallel traffic
starts the pedestrian starts the crossing knowing the light is green but, due
to right on red, the pedestrian must be cognizant of possible immediate right
turners. Usualy these drivers are concentrating on looking left towards the
oncoming traffic instead of the possible pedestrian making it imperative for
the pedestrian to be hyper aware.
At the halfway point in the crossing just at the center line, the pedestrian
must be cognizant of the possible left turning traffic that is traveling from
the same direction as the pedestrian. Just as this is being processed, the
pedestrian must be cognizant of possible right turners traveling towards the
pedestrian.
This process must be adjusted by the pedestrian when there are wider,
multiple lane crossings. The intersection must be understood in weather or not
it has specified traffic lights like arrows with designated turning lanes and
median strips.
To make all of this more fun, especially for the blind pedestrian is the
presence of pressure pads that trigger traffic lights.
T intersections are unique in that the green light will always have left and
right turners for the pedestrian to contend with.
For the blind pedestrian, keeping ones head in a crossing is imperative,
When traffic flow is operating as it is designed to flow. Crossings are
completed easily with proper training and knowledge of how intersections work.
What you are hearing in many of my email messages is the widening gap
between the well educated blind pedestrian’s skills caused when drivers do not
operate in the way the infrastructure was designed.
The role of the O&M instructor to solidly burn all of this into a blind
pedestrian’s mind is literally the difference between life and death. It’s a
gravely serious responsibility.
So, when I know traffic is running traffic lights at greater than 50 mph I’m
rattled and complain about it.
I hope this helps in understanding where I’ve been coming from.
Carson Wood.
From: wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:wsmac-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf ;
Of John Brooking
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2018 8:45 PM
To: wsmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [wsmac] Dedicated pedestrian crossing and visually impaired pedestrians
Here is a question for Carson and other people on this list familiar with
issues around visual impaired walking, as well as engineers like Eric or Ethan.
I recently had an email exchange with Patrick Adams at the DOT regarding the
application of dedicated pedestrian phasing of walk lights, meaning all traffic
is stopped when the walk light is on. He mentioned a number of challenges to
doing that, one of which was the impact to visually impaired pedestrians and
their ability to navigate the intersection.
I have not heard before that a dedicated pedestrian phase would present a
challenge to these users. Can anyone explain what it would be?
