This is Self-Study Guide PAGE 2
Checklists <> forum discussion

Teaching at Crossings with No Traffic Signal or Stop Sign

Welcome! This page lists the tasks needed specifically for streets with no stop sign or traffic signal (no "traffic control"), and suggestions for teaching the skills and concepts related to those tasks.
For a teachers' aid that may help you organize your instruction, go to the checklists.

Primary tasks needed for streets with no traffic control:

DETERMINE WIDTH of the street you want to cross (this can be done without vision).
UNDERSTAND CROSSING TIME: Develop an "internal/cognitive" understanding of how much time you will need to cross streets of various widths.
It is nearly impossible to recognize situations of uncertainty or determine when it is clear to cross without this cognitive understanding of your crossing time.
RECOGNIZE if there is a situation of uncertainty for gap judgment.

(See "Introducing Situations of Uncertainty to Students" for ideas about starting to teach your student to recognize situations of uncertainty.)
- IF THERE IS NO situation of uncertainty (that is, you can see/hear the traffic well enough to know when it is clear to cross):
  - DETERMINE WHEN THERE IS A CROSSABLE GAP. . .
- IF THERE IS a situation of uncertainty:
  - ANALYZE THE RISKS, reduce the risks as much as possible, and decide if the risks of crossing are acceptable.
  - ALTERNATIVES: Consider and implement alternatives if the risks are not acceptable or if less risky options would be preferable.

Teaching the skills and concepts for crossing streets with no traffic control:

This section has suggestions for teaching the skills and concepts which students need in order to complete the tasks of analyzing and crossing streets with no traffic control. Many of these suggestions are illustrated in the Workshop For Teaching to Cross With No Stop Sign or Traffic Signal.

Included among the teaching tools and strategies are the following, each of which is recommended by the Self-Study Guide:

You will find references to each of the above links as you read the suggestions below.

Determine the width of the street you want to cross:

understanding what are "lanes" and how wide lanes typically are:

Walk with the student across a quiet street or across an area that is marked to represent lanes and tell the student when each lane starts and ends, until the student can walk across the lanes and report accurately when the next lane starts.

Once the students seem to understand the width of the lanes, have them walk across a street or an area with traffic lanes (if they can see the markings, have them close their eyes, or have them walk in an area that is not marked) and have them report when they think they have reached the end of each lane and are beginning the next. Practice until they can do so accurately.

Congenitally blind students can examine vehicles in parking lots to become familiar with the width of cars and trucks and understand the reason for the width of the lanes needed to accommodate them. However, be aware that the width of parking spaces is usually about 8 feet wide, which is more narrow than the width of lanes in the streets (about 10-14 feet wide).
understanding the typical geometry of streets;
identifying which lanes the vehicles are in as they pass.
putting it all together to determine the probable width of an unfamiliar street:

Understand ("internally/cognitively" understand) how much time you will need to cross streets of various widths:

Once the student knows how wide the street is and you have timed the student crossing it (or crossing the equivalent distance), ask the student to imagine crossing the street, beginning when you start a timer. Based on the student's actual crossing times, report when the student would have completed the crossing (that is, when the time that the student needs to cross has passed). It often helps if you report to the student when she would have reached the second lane, the third lane, the middle of the street, the last lane, etc.
Next, ask the student to imagine crossing the street, reporting to you when she starts her imaginary crossing and when she thinks she would have reached the other side. Start a stopwatch when the student reports that the imaginary crossing has begun, and stop the watch when the student predicts she would have reached the other side, then tell the student whether she was accurate. The exercise continues until the student can accurately measure the time needed to cross. (See examples in Vignette #1 and in Workshop.

This may be reversed and the instructor asks the student to imagine starting to cross, then interrupts and ask the student to report where in the crossing she would be at that time. The ability to determine this will be helpful later, when the student is listening or looking for approaching vehicles -- the student can predict where in the crosswalk she would have been if she had started to cross just before detecting an approaching vehicle and the driver hadn't slowed down for her.

NOTE: When students are learning to judge the time needed to cross, do not ask them to simply count the seconds, just as you would not ask them to count steps when they are learning to judge distances. Although some students enjoy the challenge of accurately measuring the passage of time and seconds (and doing so can be a fun additional exercise for these students), it is more important that they develop an "internal" or cognitive understanding of the passing of time during their crossings.

Recognize if there is a situation of uncertainty for gap judgment:

Procedure to Develop Judgment of the Detection of Traffic

Timing Method for Assessing the Detection of Vehicles (TMAD)

See "Introducing Situations of Uncertainty to Students" for ideas about starting to teach your student to recognize situations of uncertainty.

The Self-Study Guide recommends that you read the following:

Procedure to Develop Judgment of the Detection of Traffic
Timing Method for Assessing the Detection of Vehicles (TMAD).

Use hearing to determine when it is clear enough to cross, and recognize the masking effect of ambient sounds:

Timing Method for Assessing the Detection of Vehicles

click here

Use vision effectively to determine when it is clear to cross, and do it when glancing left-right.

vignette #4

Scanning for Cars

"Scanning for Cars" is recommended by the Self-Study Guide.

Judge when the vehicles are far enough and/or slow enough to allow you enough time to cross, and do it when glancing left-right.

"Timing Method for Assessing the Speed and Distance of Vehicles" is recommended by the Self-Study Guide.

Analyze risks and decide if they are acceptable.

Vignette

pedestrian and white cane laws regarding right-of-way.
probability that a vehicle that was undetected at the beginning of the crossing could reach them before the crossing is finished.
likelihood that drivers will slow down or stop to avoid hitting the student.
- Fitzpatrick, Turner, Brewer, Carlson, Ullman, Trout, Park, Whitacre, Lalani, and Lord (2006);
- Geruschat and Hassan (2005) who studied the percentage of drivers at various speeds who stop for pedestrians with a white cane crossing at Maryland roundabouts;
- Inman, Davis and Sauerburger (2005), who studied drivers at a roundabout, and
- Sauerburger (2003), who studied the percentage of drivers who yielded to a person with a white cane trying to cross separate right-turn lanes in California and in Maryland.
- Finally, have the student observe the yielding behavior of drivers in the student's area. This information may be more applicable to the student's situation than the results of studies in other areas. Have the student try to get drivers to yield in various situations and observe (with sighted assistance if necessary) how many drivers comply.
Danger of "multiple threats"
Most importantly, students should understand the dangers of crossing multiple lanes when there is a vehicle that has stopped to yield in only one lane. The presence of that waiting vehicle reduces the visibility of the pedestrian to other drivers, and reduces the ability of the pedestrian to hear other approaching traffic, as was hopefully already learned when the student was taught to notice how the sound of approaching traffic is affected by the sound of other vehicles. And make sure students understand that they should not trust the verbal assurance of drivers or others that it's safe to cross.

Use alternatives if the risks are not acceptable or if less risky options would be preferable.

Alternatives When Crossing is Too Risky

Have the student execute spontaneously-planned alternatives. For example have the student approach an intersection, evaluate the crossing and, if it's not possible to hear or see the vehicles well enough, consider the feasibility of various alternatives and implement one of those that doesn't require planning ahead (such as getting assistance, crossing elsewhere, etc.).
Have the student listen or watch at a crossing where there is no traffic control, and determine whether it is likely that there is a traffic signal along that street in either direction and if so, how far away it is likely to be. [Hint: Traffic signals cluster vehicles together into what traffic engineers call "platoons," and the further the traffic gets from the signal, the more spread-out are the vehicles. So if the traffic comes in tight clusters of traffic followed by long gaps in traffic, there is probably a signal at the next intersection "upstream" in that direction, and if the groups of vehicles that are somewhat spread out, they may be coming from a signal a few blocks away.]
Give the student assignments to go to destinations in familiar areas which have intersections where the student knows he cannot hear or see the vehicles well enough, and have him plan the route to avoid those intersections.
Have the student contact traffic engineers responsible for troublesome intersections to consider the feasibility of revising the intersection to make it safer to cross -- click here for some ideas. To find out more about modifications and features that increase accessibility and safety for people who are blind or visually impaired, you might contact the Orientation and Mobility Division's Environmental Access Committee and the representative for your area in the U.S. and Canada.

References:

Fitzpatrick, K., Turner, S., Brewer, M., Carlson, P., Ullman, B., Trout, N., Park, E., Whitacre, J., Lalani, N., & Lord, D. (2006) TCRP Report 112/NCHRP Report 562 - Improving pedestrian safety at unsignalized crossings. Transit Cooperative Research Program and National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board.

Geruschat, D. and Hassan, S. (2005) "Driver Behavior in Yielding to Sighted and Blind Pedestrians at Roundabouts" Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, AFB Press, Vol. 99, No. 5, p. 286-302

Inman, V.W., Davis, G.W., and Sauerburger, D. (2005) Pedestrian Access to Roundabouts: Assessment of Motorist Yielding to Visually Impaired Pedestrians and Potential Treatments to Improve Access. Federal Highway Administration Report DTFH61-02-C-00064

Sauerburger, D (1999). "Rules of the Road" September 1999 Newsletter, Metropolitan Washington Orientation and Mobility Association (WOMA)

Sauerburger, D (2003). "Do Drivers Stop at Unsignalized Intersections for Pedestrians Who are Blind?" Proceedings, conference of Institute of Transportation Engineers, March 25, 2003, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Self-Study Guide: what next?

If you got this far by following the recommendations of the Self-Study Guide, you're almost ready for some fun reading!

Before you go on, however, be sure that you've read the following, each of which has already been recommended in your readings:

(page 3) Procedure to Develop Judgment of the Detection of Traffic
(page 4) Timing Method for Assessing the Detection of Vehicles (TMAD)
(page 5) Timing Method for Assessing the Speed and Distance of Vehicles (TMASD)
(page 6) Scanning for Cars

If you already read each of the pages listed above, then the next page to read is:

(page 7) Street-Crossings: Analyzing Risks, Developing Strategies, and Making Decisions
This is the last page of serious stuff before you're ready for the fun pages, but you might find that this page is the most helpful of all -- it may provide you with an interesting, new perspective to help deal with complex street-crossing issues. I hope it is as helpful to you as it was for me -- enjoy!

Move next to page 7: Street-Crossings: Analyzing Risks, Developing Strategies, and Making Decisions
Return to Situations of Uncertainty for Gap Judgment
Return to Self-Study Guide - Preparing Visually Impaired Students to Assess and Cross Streets with No Traffic Control
Return to Home page