[nfb-talk] Crossing the Street for the Blind

[T. Joseph Carter]

Richard Wall is definitely Piled Higher and Deeper, as they say.  It's 
apparent to me that the average blind person is safer in an intersection 
than the average sightie ever will be because we are paying attention to 
the traffic at our intersection and that of intersections off in the 
distance.  We can hear around bends and hills that a sightie can't, and we 
know how to listen.

At night, in the early morning, or in the late afternoon, a sighted person 
has less use of their eyes, but we still have good use of our ears.  Only 
during those times the sun is not close to the horizon do sighted people 
have it easy.  Then, they have to actually see what they look at, which 
doesn't always happen.

A sighted person is only safer if and when they begin to adopt our own 
techniques in addition to their eyes, because their eyes might see a 
hybrid.

Such wrong-headed foundations leave me little expectation that anything he 
is likely to produce to help the poor helpless blind people.  It should 
come as no surprise, then, that Wall proposes that blind people be 
fiddling with a cell phone when they want to cross a street to trigger the 
actuated signal, audible alarms if you step outside of a crosswalk, and a 
four-way red light if a blind person haplessly wanders into the road..

I cannot say that this is how we treat children, because honestly it 
isn't.  Children are presumed to neither need nor be safe having this 
technology.  It is to be restricted to blind people alone, as a security 
measure.

And finally, while we are on the subject of security, let us consider that 
security-through-obscurity model.  Let us assume hypothetically that I am 
recruited by some organization that wishes to cause havoc of some sort.  
Let us say that they obtain my cell phone software and it gives them 
access to control every lighted intersection in the city.  Of course, Wall 
wouldn't think a blind person capable of such nefarious action, but I 
think we of the NFB know that blind people come in all forms.  It only 
takes one of them to create chaos anywhere this system of Wall's is 
deployed.

No, this is an insult.  We don't need this thing, and I doubt many of us 
would want it either.

Joseph

On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 05:08:45PM -0700, Alicia Richards wrote:
>The following was just posted to the Colorado Association of Blind Students mailing list.  I'm curious to know what you guys have to say about it.  I wonder, does the NFB know of this technology, and do we plan to do anything about it? 
>
>For the 21.2 million Americans who suffer from vision loss,
>crossing the
>street can be a stressful and potentially dangerous proposition.
>Thanks to engineers at the University of Idaho, many visually impaired
>individuals soon may have a greatly reduced risk thanks to a tool
>already in their pockets - their cell phone.
>
>The statistics for vision loss, provided by the American
>Foundation for
>the Blind, include anyone reporting difficulty seeing, even while
>wearing glasses or contact lenses. No matter the level of visual
>impairment, many conditions - including visual noise, walking at
>night
>and irregular intersections - can result in missing a crosswalk.
>
>Regardless of conditions, the new system being developed in
>Moscow,
>Idaho, will make intersections safer and easier to navigate.
>
>"Minute for minute on the road, any pedestrian is 150 percent
>more
>likely to
>
>be injured by a car than somebody driving one," said Richard
>Wall,
>professor
>
>of electrical and computer engineering. "But it is pretty
>apparent that
>the
>
>blind pedestrians are the ones most at risk at intersections.b
>
>The new technology utilizes features already available in many
>cellular
>
>phones, including communications, Global Positioning Satellite
>(GPS)
>
>functions and magnetic compasses to help visually impaired
>pedestrians.
>
>Specialized software allows these pedestrians to activate the
>crossing
>
>signal remotely without having to locate the physical button.
>
>Then, the GPS system monitors the position and direction of
>travel while
>crossing. As long as the crosser stays within the crosswalk,
>nothing
>happens. But stray outside the lines, and an audible warning
>activates
>alerting the pedestrian of their danger. It then provides
>directions on
>how to get back within the safety zone. Should the walker somehow
>end up
>in the middle of the intersection, the system automatically would
>turn
>every light red, stopping traffic and averting a potential
>disaster.
>
>"It's true that this would disrupt the timing of the signal
>patterns
>when it gets activated," said Wall. "But we would much rather
>disrupt
>them for a few seconds than for a half hour while an ambulance
>assists a
>traffic victim."
>
>To ensure people don't trigger the alarm just for fun, only those
>who
>need the help would be able to acquire the necessary software.
>
>The system requires more than software, however. It also requires
>the
>installation of new hardware in thousands of lights across the
>country.
>Luckily, Wall and his team have found a solution that not only is
>cost
>effective, it simplifies the existing system.
>
>Many crosswalks currently have handicapped-Many crosswalks curre
>provide
>help such as audio tones indicating when it is safe to cross.
>However,
>the box that controls the intersection contains a massive amount
>of
>wiring. This is necessary to connect each actuator with each
>signal so
>at any given time, the control box knows each state.
>
>Wall's new system simplifies each box to only two wires, both
>already
>required to power the signals. It uses a technology called
>Ethernet over
>power line, which allows information to be broadcast over power
>lines.
>
>The future is clear for Wall and his research team. They have
>established dates to deliver the engineering and expect field
>trials to
>commence in June. They are building prototypes supported by funds
>from
>the University Transportation Centers program, Idaho's Higher
>Education
>Research Council and their commercial partner, Campbell Company,
>who
>currently makes the accessible pedestrian signals that chirp and
>talk
>for the handicapped.
>
>"The signals we're building are more than prototypes. These
>devices
>actually can go into the field and work today," said Wall. "We're
>using
>existing infrastructure and communicating intelligence over it.
>It's
>cost effective, it simplifies the connection to two wires and it
>can be
>immediately installed in all the existing crosswalks in the
>country."
>
>If you would like more information, or to speak with the people
>involved, please let me know.
>
>Ken Kingery
>
>Science/Research Writer
>
>University of Idaho
>
>Office: 208-885-9156
>
>Cell: 614-570-3942 
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