Oct
Blind Behind the Wheel
I wonder at the world sometimes. When I was a kid, my folks taught me to take extra care if I happened to see a disabled person. A wheelchair, a white cane, or a guide dog were dead giveaways. Don’t stare, they told me. Don’t be mean. Go out of your way to make sure a blind person can get past because they can’t see you. Simple.
I wonder if other parents were as careful in preparing their children for the same? A few days ago I was driving home from work. My route takes me through a busy intersection and I have to take a left turn into a lot of oncoming traffic. Basically, I have to wait until the light just turns red, then go through before drivers on my left and right have time to accelerate. This one day I had just missed my turn and was waiting patiently for the next cycle when I noticed two women at the corner on my left. One was carrying a white cane. The other stood near her, chatting. The two obviously knew each other. I saw the cane and planned on not carrying out my normal car-dodging strategy until the two were safely across the street.
The light turned and, almost immediately, a police (!) car took a right turn right in front of them as they were just stepping off of the curb. The two women shrank back as the car whizzed past, oblivious. They started crossing the street again, just as another car cut across traffic and took a left turn right in front of them. They almost got run over. The sighted woman raised her hand in anger and really looked like she wanted to smack that driver. Like the first, police, car this driver just kept going. Didn’t stop, didn’t wait. Finally the two women were able to cross.
Good God. What is wrong with people? Are they in so much of a hurry that they’d risk the lives of two people trying to get safely (and legally) across the street?
