What it Takes to Walk - When You Cannot See

American Council for the Blind
ACB releases an updated Pedestrian Safety Handbook, a publication that informs the visually impaired and blind communities "about contemporary approaches to assuring safe paths of travel for blind pedestrians and effective ways to advocate for accommodations like accessible pedestrian signals, tactile warnings at the edges of curb ramps, and mechanisms for routing travelers safely through problematic intersections." This is a valuable resource for two reasons. First, this handbook is an excellent guide to the ADA and how it is implemented in states and localities. Step-by-step advice is given about how to work within the ADA's requirements and when and how to advocate for accessible pedestrian sidewalk and intersection features. Its value is not limited to those who are visually impaired.

Second, the handbook provides detailed information for people who are blind and visually impaired about navigating streets and intersections and what improvements are currently available. Considering how much we who are sighted rely on visual cues, this resource aims to supply those types of details via senses other than sight. For example, cues are described and possibilities explained for what happens at the end of the building line. Airflow changes and a curb is the most frequent, but not the only, possibility of what is in close proximity.

Living with a Transportation Challenge

AARP
AARP reiterates its concern that most older adults are lacking transportation options, particularly transit and a pedestrian-friendly street network. The result for many people is isolation as they are hesitant to ask friends and family members for assistance with non-essential trips.

Public transportation is very limited or nonexistent in America's suburbs and rural areas, where most older people live, and there is no indication that the situation will improve soon. In fact, a recent study by Transportation for America finds that by 2015, more than 15.5 million Americans 65 and older will live in communities where public transportation service is poor or nonexistent. Further, 60 percent of people age 50 and over said in an AARP survey that they did not have public transportation within a 10-minute walk from their homes. And 53 percent said they did not have a sidewalk outside their home.

National Association of Area Agencies on Aging
N4A's Maturing of America Survey asked governments, particularly local governments, about their services for older adults. The survey notes generally the increasing population of older adults, increasing need and, with the recession, decreasing revenues to support programs.

In terms of transportation and other services, the survey finds that older adults living in urban areas are in a better situation than those who reside in rural areas. Higher population areas are more likely to provide discounted fares on public transportation, taxi discounts or vouchers, and door-to-door and door-through-door demand-response service. They are also more likely to have pedestrian-friendly sidewalks and intersections, paratransit and public transportation. The survey emphasized that the West Coast "excels in almost all transportation categories."

Multiple Disabilities

American Council for the Blind
ACB's newsletter, the Braille Forum, recently noted the ways in which we can all be sensitive to people with mobility challenges when planning events or when using public transit and accommodations. The article discusses people with visual impairments who have multiple disabilities.

American Public Health Association
A new resource for me is the APHA Transportation and Public Health E-Newsletter (link is to subscription page). Public health benefits of transit, community transportation, walking and biking, interrelated as they are, supply wonderful partners for coordination efforts and mobility initiatives. In the current newsletter issue are the following resources:

* The Road to Health Care Parity: Transportation Policy and Access to Health Care, a policy brief about the public health ramifications of our transportation system on living a healthy lifestyle and actually being able to travel to healthcare appointments.
* National Prevention Strategy, which recommends greater reliance on transit and the active transportation modes of biking and walking. One suggestion is to "[c]onvene partners (e.g., urban planners, architects, engineers, developers, transportation, law enforcement, public health) to consider health impacts when making transportation or land use decisions."
* Safe Routes to Transit and Safe Routes for Seniors programs, which are now limited to the San Francisco area and New York, respectively.
* Aging in Place, Stuck without Options: Fixing the Mobility Crisis Threatening the Baby Boom Generation, a Transportation for America report that documents the need for viable transit options so that baby boomers will be able to comfortably age in place. The report takes a hard look at rural and suburban areas, which together account for 75 percent of today's seniors.

Medicaid Tracker

National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities
NASUAD is updating monthly its Medicaid tracker, available via its homepage. The tracker reviews the Medicaid systems in each state and summarizes any changes in eligibility and service.

Legislative Recommendations

National Council on Independent Living
NCIL has posted its summer legislative priorities, which can be opened from the homepage. Among others, the priorities include a ban on forced electroshock, support for Senate processing of judicial nominations, housing, health and medical support services, and opposition to the ADA Notifications Act, which would require 90-day notice before filing an ADA complaint. NCIL is also making requests concerning funding and the structuring of state independent living entities.

NCIL's transportation endorsements favor Complete Streets legislation, accessible taxi fleets and reauthorization of transportation legislation.

Helping People to Get Out of the House

Sometimes, it is the things we don't really notice - unless we have to - that make a big difference to the independence and mobility of a group of people. For the visually impaired, sounds are essential to navigating streets; for the elderly and the infirm, a helping hand of a volunteer is crucial.

After two years of hard work, the American Council for the Blind (ACB) scored a victory for pedestrian safety for anyone who relies on his or her hearing to completely or partially navigate the crossing of streets.

The House [has] passed S. 841, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, legislation that will provide blind, visually impaired, and other pedestrians greater security when traveling in close proximity to hybrid or electric vehicles. The legislation passed the Senate on December 9. It now goes to the President for his signature.
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The legislation will require the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin writing standards that would set requirements for an alert sound that allows blind and other pedestrians to reasonably detect a nearby electric or hybrid vehicle. It also requires that those rules be finalized within three years.

Volunteer Engagement

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A), in collaboration with the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD), AARP, and the Administration on Aging, among others, has created a technical resource center for the aging network to engage and train volunteers and provide technical assistance for volunteers and volunteer coordinators. More details can be found in the N4A press release.

Volunteer drivers are an important component of both senior and non-emergency medical transportation. Visit the relevant pages of the Community Transportation Association of America website.

Coordinating for Vibrant Communites

A bus system alone does not transform a community. And unless there is an accessible sidewalk and perhaps a bench, the bus will not be a solution for even those who live and work close by. However, I have seen plenty of smart growth material that does not even mention transit or long-distance transportation services. (And at least one court has ruled that poor public transit for an employee with a disability requires a reasonable accommodation. Read about the decision and resources in the NRC Technical Assistance News.)

What are the transportation issues that rural areas are paying attention to? Are transit access and connectivity among them?

Transportation Opinions from Rural Areas
Read the Four Corners Rural Transportation Forum report, recently prepared by the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO). The Four Corners rural communities of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah are working on coordination of public transit and human services transportation, translating livability and the land-use/transportation connection for rural areas, incorporating transit into long-range transportation planning, and dealing with emerging rural growth areas.

One concern expressed about coordination was the perceived barrier of insurance/liability potential. Developments in rural coordination include establishment of one call services, statewide coordinated planning, and integration of transit and alternative modes into transportation planning. In terms of livability, these states are examining rural connectivity to cities and reinvigoration of downtowns.

A recent Government Accountability Office report, Rural Homelessness: Better Collaboration by HHS and HUD Could Improve Delivery of Services in Rural Areas suggests, though does not explicitly state, that smart growth and livability would greatly help poor and homeless rural populations. They not only have limited housing choices, but they lack transportation to connect to services and jobs. While this is not the only problem, the lack of connectivity over the long distances involved needlessly complicates life for struggling populations.

Smart Growth Geared for Rural America

The following new resources present ideas for coordination in terms of enhancing transit accessibility and use:

Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities examines different types of rural areas and the specific challenges they confront in loss of farmland, dispersed development, long distances to jobs, and rapid growth as well as long-term declines. This report promotes the benefits of transportation options, walkable main streets and downtowns, reuse of existing land, and preservation of open space.

The parts I found useful concerned redevelopment readiness (including community visioning)and transportation options. One caveat: Though the report provides ideas for economic development and preservation of open spaces, farmland and rural communities, transportation, generally, and mobility options, specifically, (including transit) are given short shrift.

Pedestrian Access to the Bus and the Community

A Blueprint America video (eight minutes) demonstrates the unsafe conditions for pedestrians on many American roads, with particular footage of inadequate bus stop access. The images and interviews are thoughtfully presented, providing a stark comparison between the priority of car travel, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the lack of official focus on pedestrian safety and transit accessibility.

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has webinars and newsletters related to the ins and outs of pedestrian safety. A new webinar series is starting on Aug. 13. The seventh of eight in the series focuses on transit and pedestrians. Previous webinars are archived on the same site.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released pedestrian safety materials for people whose first language is not English. Coming soon is a beginner level ESL course for learners who are not advanced, but still need to be educated on pedestrian and bicycle safety. NHSA has additional pedestrian and bike safety materials for Hispanics.

Next Steps for Pedestrian Safety and Mobility

The National Complete Streets Coalition 2010 Progress Report points to the amazing success that the coalition has achieved in helping states, regions and communities institute complete streets policies. Members of the National Consortium on the Coordination of Human Services Transportation have been instrumental to this success, particularly AARP (which has produced amazing livability and safe roads products), the American Council for the Blind, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A), which all serve on the coalition's steering committee.

The coalition is looking forward to implementation, specifically at what elements complete streets policies include, whether these policies result in training, project development processes, design standards, and project selection criteria. The coalition will be analyzing performance measures to see whether they reflect the adopted complete streets policies and whether the outcomes are projects with improved travel for bicyclists, pedestrians, transit, and people with disabilities. The coalition "emphasizes a system-wide look at improvements, rather than measurement of individual projects against a standardized ideal."

As a lifelong pedestrian and transit user, I see safe and welcoming streets from the ground level and without expert eyes. I see the challenges from the perspective of a walker - of nonexistent, broken and inaccessible sidewalks, intersections where laws and signals allow both left and right turns during the same intervals allotted for pedestrians to cross, and streets with pedestrians running across six fast-moving lanes of cars because traffic signals are several blocks or more apart. I will throw out an ideal: places that have no right on red, scramble intersections, and traffic signal and other calming measures at walkable intervals, all to invite users other than cars, whether people are going to a train station, a bus stop or a library.

Watch a Video at Work

And in case we need any more incentives to promote transit and the streets that provide access to it, a new study shows that these symbiotic infrastructure systems lead to weight loss. Read about the Charlotte, N.C. weight-loss experience with light rail. A cute car-free diet video shows two young professional guys giving up their cars for a month in transit-friendly Arlington, Va.

Who Needs Sounds of the Road

American Council of the Blind

ACB has been pushing hard to resolve the dilemma of hybrid vehicles and the safety of people who are visually impaired. Hybrids are quieter than their conventional counterparts and in some circumstances fail to supply noises that are sufficiently loud to enable visually-impaired people to navigate streets. ACB supports passage of, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 734, S. 841). This Act would require a Department of Transportation study and establishment of a motor vehicle safety standard for alerting blind and other pedestrians of motor vehicle operation. Both bills have been in committee since early 2009.

Now a National Highway Traffic Safety Report, Quieter Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians: Phase I, posted on ACB’s website, studies the circumstances in which there is a difference between noise levels, whether those differentials impact safety, and the merits of possible countermeasures. Basically, noise levels differ at speeds up to 20 miles per hour. Two approaches for counter measures are discussed, (1) configuring hybrids so that they emit more noise and (2) producing devices that can be carried that warn people who are visually impaired that a quiet vehicle is nearby.

At present, only countermeasures that cause quiet vehicles to emit additional sound come close to meeting the requirements of blind pedestrians. Within this class of countermeasures, there is a fundamental distinction between systems that emit synthetic engine noise at all times when the vehicle is operating at low speeds, and those that emit noise only when triggered by a transmitter carried by blind pedestrians. The former eliminate the need for blind pedestrians to carry special transmitters, and also warn other pedestrians, cyclists and animals of the approach of quiet vehicles, while the latter minimize community noise impact.

The report wisely observes what is true in many circumstances, that universal design measures that assist people with disabilities also help others. The boys and girls who play soccer and street hockey in the middle of the road or who ride bikes without paying too much attention to their surroundings need vehicle noise almost as much as someone who is blind and they are probably less likely to carry a personal noise emitter. The sound must also be recognizable as vehicular noise, the report noted, discussing the disadvantages of personal device sounds.