[nfb-talk] Tragedy in Denver

James Aldrich jajkaldrich at gmail.com
Wed Dec 22 04:51:02 UTC 2010


Hello!

Just some food for thought here!  I'm catching up on my Email!

It may be true that the world is as it is and we can't be placed in some 
kind of bubble or be immune from tragedy.  I of course am not talking about 
blind persons only!  I think the world is not as safe for padestrians as it 
once  was. I would think this would be under investigation as to whether 
speed or alcohol or perhaps both contributed to all of this!  Many travel 
much too fast during icy conditions. Then too, this person could have been 
texting on a cell phone.  We won't know any of this for a while.

I heard about this while traveling home from visiting a friend. I was 
visiting with a person who had worked in security in a variety of 
situations! I mentioned this to him and he was saying enforced cement 
barriers were built in parts of Chicago to prevent drive by shootings at the 
affected bus stops.  I'm not implying here that this should be the solution 
but then shouldn't some kind of remedy be sought at bus stops at busy 
streets to at least minimmize what happened here?  In my area, there are bus 
benches which are very close to the oncoming traffic!  I could sit on the 
bench, stretch my feet and they'd be right in the traffic!  I won't try that 
myself! I barely have room to walk between the bench and the curb along this 
busy street!  Perhaps they are considered safe since the bus service is so 
lousy here anyhow but that's another matter. You can count on this! 
Somebody will be hit by a quiet car and will die so is this just another 
accident?  I think not!  We are working to prevent much of this from 
happening!  If people aren't in the street to begin with, why should this be 
taken lightly?  I am not getting any younger and I will travel when I feel 
the conditions are much better,  no snow or ice. I don't expect you to 
determine this for me and I don't determine for you when it is safe to 
travel!  Yes!  I will travel somewhere using my cane!  I don't feel it would 
hurt to check on making bus stops safer for everyone to minimize what 
happened here!  Just a few thoughts!

Jim


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven Johnson" <blinddog3 at charter.net>
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Tragedy in Denver


> Folks,
> Although I agree this is a tragedy, it is not the bus stop that is unsafe,
> but the conditions that caused the accident.  Everyday across this great
> nation of ours, someone is tragically killed and in some cases, assumingly
> preventable accidents like this one.  This past spring in Milwaukee, an
> individual using a wheelchair was killed in the very same way. 
> Furthermore,
> two years ago just across the street from where I live, sits a bus
> stop/shelter.  I had decided to stay home that late morning to fix a lock 
> on
> my gate, when suddenly I heard a horrific crash.  The accident that 
> unfolded
> was due to a person blowing a stop sign, while the individual traveling
> perpendicular swerved and guess what?  Yep, took out the entire shelter,
> took out part of a tree and landed partially in the side of a home.  No 
> one
> was killed, but the jaws of life had to be used to extract this person. 
> My
> point is that just because it is a blind person, it doesn't mean that we
> have to go and do something drastic as you are implying.  Instead, it goes
> back to the simple fact that accidents do occur, people do get hurt, and
> unfortunately, tragedy strikes when one leasts expects it.  Take it from a
> person who used to work in a trauma emergency care center where I saw 
> things
> like this everyday.  We just need to sit back and be thankful that the 
> other
> two individuals will probably be okay, and yet still mourn for the loss of 
> a
> peer...just like we would aany of our other non-sighted family or friends.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Steve
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Joshua Lester
> Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 2:06 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Tragedy in Denver
>
> I'm in agreement with these posts. I found out about this yesterday, and 
> I'm
> still overwhelmed with sorrow. I had just met David at the NFB convention 
> in
> Dallas back in July. I'm praying for everyone at the CCB, and all of his
> family. Yes, they do need to make those bus stops safe for everyone. Let's
> petition congress. Blessings, Joshua
>
> On 12/18/10, d m gina <dmgina at samobile.net> wrote:
>> Many prsons who are sighted feel they are with profection.
>> So when they go blind, they feel less than a person.
>> Not putting together what that sounds like.
>> I just hope Denver and other states will come up with an idea how to
>> have a buss stop safe for everyone.
>>
>> Original message:
>>> The thing I don't understand is that the three were just standing
>>> there waiting for the bus. Why cannot sighted people get it through
>>> their thick skulls that it wasn't their fault.
>>
>>> Sighted people can be so dense.
>>
>>> It said very plainly in the article that the driver lost control of
>>> her car because of the ice.
>>
>>> I don't get it!
>>
>>
>>> Gloria Whipple
>>> Corresponding Secretary
>>> Inland Empire chapter
>>> nfb of WA
>>
>>> cell number: 509-475-4993
>>
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
>>> [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alicia Richards
>>> Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2010 12:58 AM
>>> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Tragedy in Denver
>>
>>> One of the upsetting things about yesterday's accident is that many
>>> bloggers
>>
>>> on the Internet are saying the reason for the accident was
>>> specifically because the students were blind.  I wish people would
>>> have some common sense.  No sighted person would have been able to
>>> react quickly enough and move out of the way in time, even if they did
> see the car coming at them.
>>> This could have happened to any pedestrian taking public transportation.
>>> I
>>> guess the incident being blamed on blindness does not surprise me,
>>> but it does anger me.  I find such ignorance incredibly frustrating.
>>
>>> Alicia
>>
>>
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>>
>>
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>> --
>> --Dar
>> skype: dmgina23
>>   FB: dmgina
>> www.twitter.com/dmgina
>> every saint has a past
>> every sinner has a future
>>
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