[nagdu] Question about crossing streets - hope this is guide dogrelated

[Marsha Drenth]

Yes this is guide dog related. Seeing that I have traveled in 3 different
major cities. I would have to guess that drivers pay more attention to guide
dogs than canes, but this is my opinion and observation. That would be an
interesting study if there was grant money to conduct one. I am curious to
hear what others have to say.

Marsha 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of marilyn
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2012 12:42 PM
To: nagdu
Subject: [nagdu] Question about crossing streets - hope this is guide
dogrelated

Hi All,
yesterday I had a day off from work so I went to a library where  there was
a guest speak there from the National Helen Keller Center who teaches
mobility. He did a power point presentation and told us that when a blind or
blind/deaf person tries crossing a street the driver pays more attention to
a cane user than to a guide dog user. We were told they did some research in
Maryland, Minnesota and I forgot the other state. They did suburbs and city.
the man doing the presentation who can see and still drives a car did the
research. he told us he has glaucoma. He said he dressed in regular street
clothing , put dark glasses on and used a cane, then a flag and then held
his hand up to stop traffic to cross.  
They had a grant to do this study. I told him since every day I cross
streets with my guide dog and have had close calls I would have been killed
with a cane. My dog didn't go across until it was safe even if I give the
forward command. I was told that a guide dog team was killed last year
because the dog went forward and the person had a hearing problem besides
being blind. I told him I cannot comment on what happened to this person
because pedestrians who can see are hit by cars every day. 
My question is do you think people who drive cars pay more attention to a
cane user when your trying to cross a street or do people pay attention to a
guide dog user?
I asked why a study wasn't done about guide dog users crossing streets and
was told there wasn't a grant for that study since more people use canes
than dogs. 
Marilyn and Anna
_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/marsha.drenth%40gmail.com