[Quietcars] Bob Wilson and others contributing.

[michael townsend]

I read both articles submitted today with interest, and, in the second
article, which featured commentary by selected designers of Nissan's war
with noise both for and against, and by representatives of Japanese blind
organizations, again, there was no mention of how blindness orgs who train
guide dogs to work with hybrid cars.  It is not just the cane user who is at
risk here, but it would seem as if the cane traveler was the only concern of
the NFB and other blindness orgs.  Both ACB and the NFB have dog guide users
as members, and I am wondering how much input guide dog handlers have into
this mix.  

Could it be that a guide dog is trained to work on motion and acts as eyes
for the handlers and is trained to intelligently disobey commands to proceed
forward into the path of the car, thus keeping the handler safer than a cane
traveler might be?  Assuming that is true, then, why wouldn't a sighted
pedestrian be as safe as a guide dog team?  

These are just questions I have for anyone who is part of a study who may
have actual guide dog handling experience.  I don't want to hear any purely
negative responses from someone on list, as I have in the past, stating that
I'm putting myself above anyone else, as I'm not.  I travel as do you cane
travelers on city streets, take buses and trains and frequent shops, museums
and businesses and will be put in as much potential harm as you with regard
to these noiseless carriages, but I work with the tools I'm given and am
blessed to work with a dog and I don't use terms like Silent Killer to
endeavor to promote safety.  

I look forward to the accident studies that the government is undertaking,
and to further research by Nissan and other companies who are trying to get
a handle on this problem, but whenever the results are compiled, it may be a
couple years until such measures are implemented.  I say again that those
blind organizations who are making the most noise should endeavor to get the
persons who may be effected to be more familiar with the hybrid until such
safety measures are implemented. It seems that there is a very narrow-minded
focus going on here, and that there is a lot more open-mindedness that need
be pursued.  

 

"I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself...but I think
I have
a right to resent, to object to, libelous statements about my dog."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Mike Townsend and Seeing Eye dog Brent
Dunellen, New Jersey  08812
emails:  mrtownsend at optonline.net; 
michael.townsend54 at gmail.com
Home Phone:  732  200-5643
Cellular:  732  718-9480