Quiet Cars and Blind People
silly_singer posted this on her LJ and on on blindpeople community. It's lengthy so it's under a cut. The author of the email is asking all blind and visually impaired people (even sighted for that matter) to pass this along.
Hello all my blind and sighted friends,
I wanted to write and talk to you all a little about the issue of quiet
cars.
I have (as I'm sure many of you have) heard about quiet or hybrid cars for
several years now.
I am conscious of and concerned for the environment and the basic idea of
quieter and more environmentally friendly vehicles always seemed like a good
thing to me.
I have been blind since birth and traveled with a white cane from age 6 on.
For the past 13 plus years I have been partnered with three wonderful guide
dogs. I have always considered myself a competent and confident traveler
and thought that I could overcome any challenge in my environment.
Last week while walking on a very quiet residential street with a sighted
friend, we paused at the corner. There was no background noise, no traffic
noise, no loud music, etc. I told Gia forward. She refused to go. My
friend said, "There is a car on your right coming through the intersection."
I heard nothing.
It was a quiet or hybrid car.
I have since learned that these vehicles make absolutely no noise when going
at low speeds or when idling waiting for a light to change.
This impacts all kinds of situations for people like me who are blind.
Contrary to popular belief, our guide dogs do not read the traffic lights
for us. When I reach a lighted intersection, I listen for the noises of
traffic flow. If the traffic is flowing parallel to me, it means my light
is green. However, I often wait for a fresh light to cross the street. If
the traffic is perpendicular to me (moving across in front of me) the light
is red and I wait for a green light.
If the intersection was full of quiet cars, I could not read traffic and
would not know when to give my dog the forward command.
But this is not the only issue.
When I stop at the corner of a stop street with no light, I listen to make
sure no traffic is approaching before giving my dog the forward command.
Again, if the intersection was filled with quiet vehicles I would not know
when it was safe to do this.
When I travel on a sidewalkless road, I walk on the left hand side with my
dog on my left facing traffic. When cars approach us, I turn us into the
curb edge to make sure we are out of the line of fire!
Again, I would not know when traffic was approaching in this situation.
When walking through parking lots, I would not know if quiet cars were
suddenly turning in front of me or coming from behind.
When walking down a sidewalk, I would not know if a quiet car was pulling
out of a driveway.
Many of our big cities are now filled with wheelchair ramps at curbs. This
is generally a good thing but makes lining up with an intersection trickier
for someone who is blind.
I use traffic noise to make sure I am pointing in the correct direction for
a street crossing.
This is especially useful when coming to rounded curbs which make it even
more difficult to line up with intersections.
In the winter here in Canada with snow covered corners, lining up with
intersections is trickier.
When it is windy or raining hard or in winter when you need to wear a hat,
traffic noise is muffled more.
I couldn't imagine coming into contact with quiet cars under these
circumstances.
This issue really concerns me as I cherish being able to travel
independently.
My dog is trained to stop for traffic but we are a team and a partnership
and I like to be able to provide as much input and guidance as I possibly
can.
I just wanted everyone to be aware of this issue.
I have spoken to someone at Toyota Canada who has passed my concerns and
those of others on to their engineering department.
We would just like these cars to make some kind of noise.
SIf you come across anyone who works in this field or who might have
suggestions as to how I could proceed with this matter, I would appreciate
hearing from you.
Technology certainly has made my life easier with talking computers and
scanners, talking global positioning systems (which I want desperately) etc
but this type of technology could prove deadly and dangerous for people who
are blind.
Please pass this on to anyone you like and anyone is free to contact me at
any time.
My work e-mail is
kilpatrick@blindcanadians.ca
Thank you so very much for reading this.
I really feel passionate about this issue.
Kim
Hello all my blind and sighted friends,
I wanted to write and talk to you all a little about the issue of quiet
cars.
I have (as I'm sure many of you have) heard about quiet or hybrid cars for
several years now.
I am conscious of and concerned for the environment and the basic idea of
quieter and more environmentally friendly vehicles always seemed like a good
thing to me.
I have been blind since birth and traveled with a white cane from age 6 on.
For the past 13 plus years I have been partnered with three wonderful guide
dogs. I have always considered myself a competent and confident traveler
and thought that I could overcome any challenge in my environment.
Last week while walking on a very quiet residential street with a sighted
friend, we paused at the corner. There was no background noise, no traffic
noise, no loud music, etc. I told Gia forward. She refused to go. My
friend said, "There is a car on your right coming through the intersection."
I heard nothing.
It was a quiet or hybrid car.
I have since learned that these vehicles make absolutely no noise when going
at low speeds or when idling waiting for a light to change.
This impacts all kinds of situations for people like me who are blind.
Contrary to popular belief, our guide dogs do not read the traffic lights
for us. When I reach a lighted intersection, I listen for the noises of
traffic flow. If the traffic is flowing parallel to me, it means my light
is green. However, I often wait for a fresh light to cross the street. If
the traffic is perpendicular to me (moving across in front of me) the light
is red and I wait for a green light.
If the intersection was full of quiet cars, I could not read traffic and
would not know when to give my dog the forward command.
But this is not the only issue.
When I stop at the corner of a stop street with no light, I listen to make
sure no traffic is approaching before giving my dog the forward command.
Again, if the intersection was filled with quiet vehicles I would not know
when it was safe to do this.
When I travel on a sidewalkless road, I walk on the left hand side with my
dog on my left facing traffic. When cars approach us, I turn us into the
curb edge to make sure we are out of the line of fire!
Again, I would not know when traffic was approaching in this situation.
When walking through parking lots, I would not know if quiet cars were
suddenly turning in front of me or coming from behind.
When walking down a sidewalk, I would not know if a quiet car was pulling
out of a driveway.
Many of our big cities are now filled with wheelchair ramps at curbs. This
is generally a good thing but makes lining up with an intersection trickier
for someone who is blind.
I use traffic noise to make sure I am pointing in the correct direction for
a street crossing.
This is especially useful when coming to rounded curbs which make it even
more difficult to line up with intersections.
In the winter here in Canada with snow covered corners, lining up with
intersections is trickier.
When it is windy or raining hard or in winter when you need to wear a hat,
traffic noise is muffled more.
I couldn't imagine coming into contact with quiet cars under these
circumstances.
This issue really concerns me as I cherish being able to travel
independently.
My dog is trained to stop for traffic but we are a team and a partnership
and I like to be able to provide as much input and guidance as I possibly
can.
I just wanted everyone to be aware of this issue.
I have spoken to someone at Toyota Canada who has passed my concerns and
those of others on to their engineering department.
We would just like these cars to make some kind of noise.
SIf you come across anyone who works in this field or who might have
suggestions as to how I could proceed with this matter, I would appreciate
hearing from you.
Technology certainly has made my life easier with talking computers and
scanners, talking global positioning systems (which I want desperately) etc
but this type of technology could prove deadly and dangerous for people who
are blind.
Please pass this on to anyone you like and anyone is free to contact me at
any time.
My work e-mail is
kilpatrick@blindcanadians.ca
Thank you so very much for reading this.
I really feel passionate about this issue.
Kim