Category: the Rant Board
i am tired of drivers who don't watch out for white kains can't they see? i feel like at times that i can see more van they do.I speak from experience because last year i was hit by a driver who wasn't watching for people crossing the road. this was even with an audible trafic signal.
And this is one reason why I'm so against this supposed blind drivable car the NFB is trying to develop. It's risky enough sometimes trying to cross a street on foot even if you've judged the timing completely accurately. Two years ago while my mother and I were walking to a Subway for lunch I was almost hit by a lady who obviously hadn't paid attention in Drivers' Ed and didn't remember or care that pedestrians have the right of way. Not only did she honk her horn in front of me she apparently also, although I didn't hear this part, did a fair bit of swearing. Needless to say the thought of actually being a driver on the road is enough to make me cringe because of the simple fact that even if we ourselves obey all the rules of the road to the best of our abilities we're going to be outnumbered by sheer idiots.
i was waiting at a crossing once, the bleeping was going on, and it was apparently my right of way. there was something stoppping me cross though, and that was the fucking idiot i could hear coming down the street at eighty mph. wanker! he shot through the red lights, and if i'd been crossing, i'd have been killed.
Exactly. It seems like nobody cares about the rules of the road, much less their own and others' safety anymore. A moment of silence please for our departed friend common sense?
when drivers go right through a cross walk and we are already starting to cross and a car cuts in front of us do we have the right to hit the car with are white cane? i wouldn't do this myself but it would be a strong message to the driver that is driving the vehicle.
fuck hitting the car with the cane, i'm out of there, i value my life a bit more than that.
Not only that but they'd probably try and sue you for damaging their vehicle. That seems to be most people's answer to everything these days.
I almost got hit by a truck because it cut right through the lot and and I scrambled to saftey. I don't think you are allowed to cut through a place where kids play; this was a school after all. What a moron!
yes, there are morons on the streets, driving cars and trucks and motorcycles, but there are idiots everywhere. There is only one way to avoid never meeting an idiot, and that is to never be born. I would say kill yourself, but suicide is a pretty idiotic way out in my opinion, but that's another board. The point is, your always going to meet idiots, even in the blind community. I went to a blind school, and there were idiots there too. The only thing you can do is be more careful, or get a guide dog, who warns you about those kinds of things. My dog has saved me from that on several occasions.
i know this town to whell that i don't need a guide dog. did you not read the part about i wouldn't do this myself in post five. it was sarcasim.
Yeah but sometimes a close call like that can be detremental to the guide dog as well as the human. My friend Dianna was almost hit by a car while walking with a former guide dog and he was so emotionally traumatized that he couldn't work anymore.
Drivers don't just create problems for visually impaired people, they do so for sighted people too. the incidents of bad driving described in this thread are probably experiences that other people, sighted and visually impaired have also had.
There will always be rubbish drivers.
Oh no one's denying that sighted folks have to deal with this problem as well. You ought to hear my fiance sometimes when we encounter such an idiot on our way somewhere.
The point is, we all have to deal with it. It sucks, welcome to the rant board!
yes we all have to deal with drivers on the road but the point is they don't watch out for white kains and they should.
Last week, I was walking with a friend and almost got run over because this moron was driving on the sidewalk. When I first approached the car it was not moving, so I was given an awful shock when I came right along side it and it moved. This insane woman started to run over my cane as I brought it to the left, then backed off. She rolled down her window and appologized, and all I could say was, "what the HELL!" Good thing my dog was at home, or he would've had a crushed paw. What an idiot! Driving on the sidewalk! The SIDEWALK! I should have had my sighted friend get her license plate number and called the cops..
Wow. What an idiot. Then there was the memorable occasion when I almost got hit by a car right out in front of my parents' house of all places. Of course my brother might have been aprtially to blame for that, him and his damn loud music in the garage. I was on my way to walk to a haircut and even back then about ten years ago cars were getting quieter. About the only thing in my favor was that it wasn't raining, a rarity in Portland, Oregon. But it was a bit windy and then of course there was my brother's music. So needless to say I was just about to the middle of the street when the woman's car came by. Of course I didn't hear it until it was more or less on top of me. She might even have hit me if I hadn't backed up a step or two more out of reflex than anything else and so she hit my cane, didn't damage it thankfully. But did this woman stop? Oh heavens no. She did look to see if I was all right but once she was satisfied she drove off without a word. And then as I said there was the incident two years ago where that idiot turned in front of me when my mom and I were walking to Subway for lunch.
Yikes! And people wonder why I always go out with sighted people... Yes, they certainly have to deal with these things too, but most of the time, that is, if the person isn't barrelling down a residential street, the sighted person has a much easier time getting out of the way because they can see the car before we can hear it and can also see the sidewalk etc. to get to safety. Am I saying that all blind people should stay home and never go out? No. But I seriously can't wait until that Brain Port starts selling. I'd feel alot safer with that on me than venturing alone. And from what I've heard, Greece is far worse! I'm sure that'll be a fun trip... yeah right.
Brain Port? I'd be a little dubious about that.
yes it is nnice to go out with a sighted guide at times but i would rather try to go out on my own than with a sighted guide. perfer to be as indipendent as possable.the sighted people do have to deal with this to i get that.some times we can hear it before they can see it depending on how loud the car is.
What the heck is a Brain Port? It sounds a bit like something from Star Trek.
A Brainport is a truly incredible device that let's people see with their tongues! Youtube has several videos on it and there are many articles online about it. Here's a relatively recent one.
BrainPort® Offers a "Taste"
http://www.lighthouse.org/news-events/newsletters-publications/newsletters/shared-vision-fall-2009/brainport
Mom actually saw somethingon ABC News about it last week or so, so it seems that the study is still going on. Hopefully, I can get in on it. It's been my dream to try this thing ever since I heard of it a year or two ago.
Oh yeah. I heard of that. When I first heard that they were making people see with their tongues and catch balls, I took it literally and got this ridiculous mental picture of someone flicking their tongue in and out like a lizard for momentary glimpses. Fortunately it's not that freaky.
hahaha Yeah. That would be a little strange to say the least.
wow! just wow and wierd
why would you want to see out of your tung with a brain port any how? it is majorley od and weired.this topic was about drivers who don't watch out for white kains it seems like it is going off topic.
It doesn't matter to me whether it's weirdornot, so long as it works. In this case, it would help me in determining where these cars are so that I don't get hit by them. Ihate the quiet cars of today. I've never come across these but I've heard that the electric ones don't make any noise at all! So if some idiot decides to go when there's a red light, I'd have no way of knowing it until I was hit.
They don't when they're coasting at I believe twenty miles per hour or less. Anything above that and the gas powered engine kicks in. Of course I've heard that even then they're still really quiet, especially in noisier settings.
i agree with you. i hate the cars that hardley make any sound either. especially the smart cars.
Definitely. And then you get situations like what happened to me and my mom two years ago while walking to a Subway for lunch. I was just stepping out into the street when this idiot woman turned right on red, honked at me and started yelling curses through her window. And apparently all the while the rest of the drivers were staring at her in shock and outrage.
the blind aren't the only people who rely on sound to tell where cars are you know, sighted people sometimes do too say if the car is behind them, like with me and my mom. she didn't even know a car whent behind us until it wqas past us because it was so quiet.
I was walking down the street one day and a car turned in front of me at the last damn minute. Hello stupid, anticipate the turn and don't take it so sharply.
And watch out for what's in the road. Perhaps Rat ought to rephrase that comment. The blind aren't the only ones who SHOULD use sound to tell where things are. I'm not saying sighted people don't do it but there are definitely a disturbing number of them who don't. And they're also not paying attention with their eyes because they're probably texting behind the wheel. That's one law I hope does get passed here in Idaho, passed and then enforced. That's one way to begin to get me comfortable with the idea of blind people driving, but only one step in that direction.
Oh I agree.
Just imagine that. Beep Beep. I'm a blind guy driving. I've reached the record for most people run over in a month. Congratulations to me. Somehow, that just doesn't seem like a good idea. Somehow.
But that's what guide dogs are for. LOL There supposed to give you directions so you'll stop doing that.
That certainly seems to be a popular misconception. THe whole the dog helps the blind person see spiel and all that. As for the car thing I can't help feeling the NFB is trying to do too much too fast. And we've all experienced the fact that sighted people, for all their sight, don't often see what's right in front of them. It's hard enough crossing streets as a pedestrian sometimes. I don't even want to think if us behind the wheel with the rest of them. Hell, I think my wife and I have come close to being in accidents because of some of those idiots.
What a shame it is.