Commitment to Prepare Students

provide our students with strategies so THEY CAN

recognize Situations of Uncertainty;
analyze how much risk is involved in each crossing so they can make the best decisions based on their own information-gathering and assessment;
realize that some crossings may involve unacceptable risk; and
be empowered with viable alternatives for crossings that have more risk than they are willing to accept.

O&M Best Practice

"Although this strategy of crossing when quiet still is reliable in some situations,
research and observations indicate there are situations where
it is not possible for a person with normal hearing and walking speed
to hear traffic with sufficient warning to be assured
that there is a gap in traffic long enough to cross even when it is quiet
(Wall Emerson & Sauerburger, 2008, Sauerburger, 1989, 1995, 1999, 2006, Snook-Hill and Sauerburger 1996)."

best practice for O&M programs is to prepare students to be able to
"recognize situations where they cannot hear or see well enough to reliably predict gaps in traffic"
[that is, recognize situations where they cannot predict when it is clear to cross].
AER O&M Division position paper, 2008

Teaching our students about crossings with no traffic control

The remaining sections of the Self-Study Guide address how to teach students to

recognize Situations of Uncertainty, and Situations of Confidence (Section 2);
analyze the risk of crossing at Situations of Uncertainty, and use alternatives when the risk is unacceptable (Section 3);
be able to reliably determine crossable gaps in traffic at Situations of Confidence (Section 4).

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