Have you ever seen a blind person crossing a busy street alone? (Phoenix: light rail, cars)

[Voebe]

I've become interested in traffic signals recently, and had a couple of conversations with the city department that deals with them.

In particular, we talked about light visibility and crossing times, and went off on a tangent about the signals that eternally burp out, "Wait! Wait! Wait!" I said that I've never, ever seen any blind people crossing by themselves, presumably with a cane, in the Phoenix area. Have you?

[Teacher Terry]

Blind people that have cane training or have a guide dog certainly cross streets alone.

[DAXhound]

You would probably see them near the light rail stations.

[Bondurant]

Yes.

[exit2lef]

Yes, I've seen blind people cross the street both downtown and near light rail stations elsewhere in the city. As others have suggested, it's accomplished with the help of a cane or a service dog.

[locolobo13]

Rarely. Most of the time with a guide dog.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Voebe

I've become interested in traffic signals recently, and had a couple of conversations with the city department that deals with them.

In particular, we talked about light visibility and crossing times, and went off on a tangent about the signals that eternally burp out, "Wait! Wait! Wait!" I said that I've never, ever seen any blind people crossing by themselves, presumably with a cane, in the Phoenix area. Have you?

Yes.

[Voebe]

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

Blind people that have cane training or have a guide dog certainly cross streets alone.

I'm not asking if they cross the street alone.

I'm asking if you personally have seen that in Phoenix - preferably without a dog, because the traffic lights are not for the dog's convenience.

[melaniej65]

I am blind and have crossed streets in Phoenix on my own and with other blind friends (we all use white canes). We were taught how to cross the street by listening to traffic patterns (which have gotten more difficult as there are more electric cars on the streets).

The signals that give off audible clues help immensely. It surprises me that a great many motorists seem unaware that a white cane actually mean that the person has limited sight or is completely blind. I have lost track of the times when someone has shouted abuse at me when I been crossing the street properly, but someone wants to either turn or just go through the crosswalk without slowing or stopping.

[Ponderosa]

I used to see one everyday on my commute. Same guy. It always amazed me that he was not run over by people making turns at the intersection. I suppose he was eventually as I did not see him anymore.