Are You Blind?
No really! Are you blind? Or maybe you know somebody is?
I want some honest feedback on what I think is more government wasteful spending on a “feel-good” public works project.
The city is rebuilding a lot of street crossings in our burg. They are installing these doo-dads on every corner.
If you guessed it’s Braille for “Look Out You Idiot, Are You Blind?” you would be wrong. I was told that it is to alert sight-impaired folks that they have come to a traffic crossing. Whether it be a driveway crossing a sidewalk or a street corner. Kroger even has installed them outside the entrance to the store.
In a burg of 100,000 I wonder how many legally blind persons there are? I’ve seen one dude with a white cane walking. One. For sake of argument, lets multiply that by the government mandated multiplier for politically correctness: 100. So there are 100 people here. But lets say only 1/2 are mobile. 1/2 of those walk on sidewalks. So we’re down to… well a few more than one.
I’m probably a LOT insensitive to the blind, but the next time I see the guy, I’m going to run up behind him and yell “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE BUMPY CROSSING ALERTS?”
After he removes the white cane from my ear, I’ll ask him again because I really want to know if he thinks it is a good way to spend your tax money. (I stopped paying taxes a long time ago – JOKE, it’s a joke Nancy.) 🙂
Oh, yeah. Funding was cut this year to all non-profits because the burg needed to tighten their spending.
Just a half a block before the picture above I stumbled over this.
We sighted people just don’t stand a chance.
- Do they have these in your burg?
- Do you know a blind person?
- Would you ask them if they are useful?
OMG!! Way too funny for words! You are a hoot.
@RoLynn: HI! Thanks for dropping in. You are a good laffer, we will get along really well.
We do have those here…but I was under the impression that they were access panels of some sort for the utilities. They’ve been installing them slowly but surely for the last 5 years.
They are hugely unpopular with most people not exactly because of the money spent on them but because, even with the bumps, they are incredibly slippery when wet. Not good for Pedestrians of any sort, especially at an intersection.
Kims last blog post..One Local Summer!
@Kim: thanks, I would say most people think they have a function other than to alert the blind!
Wehave some, yes I said SOME. We have the pavements lowered ar all intersections and driveways… I think the lowered pavement is to aid pram pushers cross the roads more easily..
I could be very wrong.
Grannymars last blog post..If I’m not in…
@Grannymar: I think the lowered curbs are a great idea, pram pusher or not. It’s the rubber plate with boils that gives me a problem.