[nagdu] Dogs and traffic lights

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Brenda.
In my experience crossing streets with my dog, people might sometimes stop
on a quiet street and yell out that it's OK to go, but mostly they zoom in
front of me, especially when they're turning.  Don't know if they'd do the
same if I had my cane, but I suspect so.  Which makes me very glad to have
my dog, with his excellent traffic skills.  I think the average Jersey or
New York driver would run down his own grandmother just to get to whatever
very important place he's going a minute earlier.  But then I heard the
other day that some yahoos in rural Pennsylvania think it's funny to aim
their car at a pedestrian or bike rider on the side of the road, just to
watch them jump into the ditch, I guess.  Which strengthens my suspicion
that decent people turn into raving psychopaths the minute they get behind
the wheel of a car.  But I digress.  I can live with the occasional
yelling of "You can cross now!
", though it used to annoy me considerable.  It's the honking that annoys
me now.  Does Beeep mean I can go, or that the driver wants to go?
Tracy


> I thought about this topic when I was out walking with my cane the other
> day and here it is on the list...
>
> So when I use a guide dog instead of a cane will people quit calling out
> their windows it is okay to cross a street and wait until I cross and/or
> worse yet, like an older gentleman did, get out of his car and tell me
> it was okay to cross.   (Educating each person is just not practicle so
> I just smile and wave and try to find another corner to cross/practice
> at).
>
> I know it is annoying for guide dog users when people assume the dog
> understands traffic lights, but does that misconception keep people from
> being too helpful? Or maybe it is just my town where people don't see
> many cane or guide dog travelers and want to be nice?
>
> Brenda
> brenda
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 8/22/2011 10:53 AM, Tracy Carcione wrote:
>> Dan, it beats the heck out of me that people ask me if I need help
>> crossing a fairly quiet street, but not when I'm trying to cross some
>> noisy monster with a bus idling  a few yards away.  Maybe the people on
>> the busy street are too busy chatting and looking around, and the ones
>> on
>> the quiet street are paying more attention to other people.  Like I
>> said,
>> beats me.
>> Tracy
>>
>>> As usual, Tommy, a very entertaining and pleasant post.
>>> The misconception about guide dogs reading traffic lights seems to be
>>> the
>>> most persistent one.
>>> I don't get as  many comments on it  these days and that's  either
>>> because
>>> I'm doing better or people just don't give a darn--smile.
>>>
>>> It used to happen all the damned time.
>>> I have explained that I hear only out of one ear.
>>> It goes in one ear and not out the other?--lol.
>>> So, telling whether the cars are in front or to the side of me has
>>> always
>>> been an interesting proposition.
>>> I remember when I was a kid and made my first ventures in to
>>> independent
>>> mobility.
>>> I'm not going to mince words, I'd just stand at the curb with tears in
>>> my
>>> eyes because I just couldn't tell.  I just figured out that you do the
>>> best
>>> you can and that's it.
>>>
>>> I've developed my own techniques, but you know sooner or later
>>> something
>>> happens.
>>> And of course everyone's there to tell me that my dog crossed me
>>> against
>>> the
>>> light or something like that, why did the dog do that, isn't he/she
>>> trained?
>>> I think what irks me is not the question, but that half the time when I
>>> explain it they keep arguing?
>>> Oh, but aren't they supposed to tell you when it's red?
>>> I just explained that. Oh, but isn't it dangerous? Well, I explain that
>>> one
>>> too.
>>>
>>> Once a guy debated with me, yes argued about it. He said he had a
>>> professor
>>> in college who told him that guide dogs cross when the light is the
>>> right
>>> color and so "I don't know who trained that dog, but those dogs do
>>> know".
>>>
>>> Oy vay, as my Dad would have said.
>>>
>>> And what's more, people who can't remember what they had for breakfast
>>> will
>>> remember for weeks that they saw you cross against the light.
>>>
>>> Of course, they wouldn't ever consider, let's see..asking you if you
>>> needed
>>> assistance when it actually happened?
>>>
>>> Go figure.
>>>
>>> And where are they when I do it right? They are there probably saying
>>> "you
>>> see, that dog did know when the light's red".--lol
>>>
>>>
>>> Dan the man, Carter the nut
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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