[nagdu] Washington - Guide dog killed crossing Kennewick street

[Tracy Carcione]

Marion, while it's true that the blind person could be responsible, it
seems to me that the assumption is just that--blind guy gets hit, blind
guy is at fault.  It ain't necessarily so.
I've heard that, many years ago, if a blind person was hit and brought the
case to court, it would be dismissed or the blind person would lose.  We
were assumed to have been negligent just because we were walking around
outside without a sighted keeper.
I think that law has changed, but I'm not so sure about the underlying
assumption.

We have to be careful, of course.  We can't go bounding out into the
street without trying to make sure it's safe to go, as best we can.  But
the White Cane law says that drivers also have some responsibility not to
turn on top of us, or back out over us, or whatever. It doesn't seem too
much to ask.
Tracy