Section 1: Situations of Uncertainty -- Page 22 of 22        Self-Study Guide | OUTLINE | INDEX | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 |Section 5 | REVIEW |

Congratulations, you have completed the first section of the Self-Study Guide! We discussed crossings with no traffic signal or stop sign and you learned that when using hearing to cross


• the strategy "clear to cross when quiet" is still reliable in many situations (Situations of Confidence) but
  
  
• at some crossings, there are Situations of Uncertainty where you cannot be certain there is a crossable gap in traffic because you don't have enough warning of approaching vehicles.
  
  
• there are no simple rules for determining if you are in a Situation of Uncertainty, and the situation can change at any given crossing.
  
  
• the only way to determine if you are in a Situation of Uncertainty is to observe how well you can hear / see the approaching vehicles at that moment.
  
  
• the ability to hear the approaching vehicles with enough warning is most affected by ambient sound and least affected by the sound of the vehicles themselves.
  
  
• the sound level of "quiet" changes during the day and varies among communities.
  
  
• The consensus of O&M specialists is that they are responsible to teach their students to recognize Situations of Uncertainty and deal with them.
  
  
For many people, this first section is the most difficult, as it requires the understanding of a very complex issue and, for some, a paradigm shift. The rest of the Self-Study Guide is about teaching students to recognize and deal with Situations of Uncertainty and, when they are not in a Situation of Uncertainty, to figure out when it's clear to cross.

Please note that while this Section 1 dealt primarily with recognizing Situations of Uncertainty using hearing, it is just as important for people who use vision to be able to recognize Situations of Uncertainty. The rest of the Self-Study Guide will address those who use vision as well as those who use hearing to cross.