[nabs-l] White cane law question

[Sarah J. Blake]

Jim,

You need to ask her to clarify this information. There are likely contextual 
factors involved regarding the type of of intersection. What I can tell you 
is that if the driver cannot see your cane, they cannot exercise necessary 
caution when you begin to cross. The ones who should yield to you are 
drivers who can right turn on red, not drivers who have a green light. Her 
other caution may have concerned situations where the sound of stopped 
traffic may make you think you have a green light when it is not truly 
possible to determine this; but you should ask her to clarify what she 
meant.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Len Burns" <len at gatamundo.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] White cane law question


> Jim,
>
> First of all, if you have not done so already, I would ask her to clarify 
> the contradiction.
>
> I have never held my cane in that manner at an intersection, and in truth, 
> I highly doubt drivers would frequently interpret this stance in the 
> manner described.  Those laws are well and good, but anybody who takes 
> them seriously is not living in the real world.
>
> As regards not crossing if somebody stops to wait, I think that is a 
> judgment call based on a number of factors.  I cross a very busy four lane 
> road every day in a location where there is a cross walk, but no signal. 
> I have no illusions about the involved risks, but have been crossing this 
> spot for almost 14 years now.  In this location, if you never crossed when 
> people stop for you, you would never cross at all. You do always need to 
> keep in mind that sighted people by habit communicate a great deal with 
> eye contact.  This often includes whether or not somebody is about to step 
> into an intersection.  One thing one must be very careful is to give clear 
> signals if one is going forward, and be ready to pull back if the signals 
> get crossed.
>
> Another thing you have to watch, especially at an intersection such as I 
> described above ist that although the people in one lane stop, does not 
> mean the idiots in the next lane will do so as well.  I encounter people 
> daily who are in such a hurry that they will even go between lanes around 
> the stopped cards to avoid waiting for a pedestrian.
>
> My philosophy is this.  I presume that I am invisible until I am certain 
> that I am seen.  This has saved my life a lot of times over about 40 years 
> of swinging a white cane.  I have been hit three times, all probably 
> avoidable if I had been more proactive, and none of them really my doing. 
> I have been fortunate, I have gotten banged up, but never seriously 
> injured.  From each, I learned a lesson in proactivity that has saved me a 
> lot of trouble at a later time.
>
> -Len
>
> Jim Reed wrote:
>> Hey all, Yesterday my O/M instructor gave me some conflicting advice that 
>> is implicitly linked to the white cane law. On one hand, she told me that 
>> while I am stopped  at an intersection and waiting to cross, that I 
>> should have the tip of my cane near my toes, and that I should extend the 
>> top part of my cane outwards towards the street so that drivers can 
>> clearly see the cane (without being able to run it over) and then they 
>> will know a blind guy is trying to cross the street. Techniclly, based on 
>> the white cane law, drivers  are supposed to yield to a blind guy with an 
>> extended cane at an intersection. Then, a few miniutes later she told me 
>> to never cross the street when a driver has stopped to let me cross. She 
>> told me to turn my back on the driver if need be.
>>
>> So, which is it? Do I stick the cane out forcing drivers to yield,  and 
>> then cross when they yield, or do I patiently wait at the intersection? 
>> It seems to me that I shouldn't stick my cane out there if I don't have 
>> any intention on crossing when I am yielded to.
>>
>> Thanks, Jim
>>
>> "From compromise and things half done, Keep me with stern and stubborn 
>> pride,
>> And when at last the fight is won, ... Keep me still 
>> unsatisfied." --Louis Untermeyer
>>
>>
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