Guide Dog Association Warns Of Curb-less Dangers
By Dave
Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
September 19, 2006
READING,
ENGLAND--A town without curbs might be a dream for wheelchair users, but it's
proving to be a nightmare for blind and partially sighted pedestrians in some
English towns.
The Guide Dogs organization, formerly known as the "Guide Dogs for the
Blind Association", released a report on September 15 strongly warning that the
creation of new "shared surface schemes", where there is no distinction between
roads and paved sidewalks, are putting the safety of blind and partially
sighted people and other vulnerable groups "at serious risk".
Shared surface projects, already in place in a few towns, are being
introduced across the country to try and calm traffic. The theory behind them
is that cars will have to slow down in order to negotiate between pedestrians
and bicyclists.
Guide Dogs spoke to several focus groups and found that removing curbs
left blind walkers and their guide dogs without any way of knowing where it is
safe to walk. The schemes also rely heavily on drivers having eye contact with
pedestrians -- a dangerous concept for blind people navigating busy traffic.
"Unless the needs of visually impaired people are incorporated into such
schemes, we'll soon be reading about fatalities," said Tom Pey, Guide Dogs'
director of policy and development, in a press statement.
"Some of the designs are death traps. One guide dog owner has already
suffered a potentially life-threatening incident in a town center, and there
have been several other near misses in shared surface zones."
The charity made a number of recommendations, such as including tactile
information to let pedestrians know when they are entering and leaving a shared
surface area, and installing audible and tactile signals at controlled
crossings.
Related:
Shared Surface Street
Design: Guide Dogs Research Project (Guide Dogs)
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Reproduced here under special arrangement
with Inclusion Daily Express international disability rights news service.
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