WHEREAS, a Department of Transportation representative has stated that fifty percent of motor vehicle fatalities in urban areas and twenty percent of such fatalities nationwide are pedestrian; and
WHEREAS, the pedestrian accident is one of the least discussed causes of death and injury in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Jacobus ten Broek, the founder of the National Federation of the Blind, in his book, "The Right to Live in the World: the Disabled and the Law of Torts", clearly stated the principle that every person, regardless of disability, has the right to expect equal access to the streets, sidewalks, conveyances, facilities and accommodations to the same extent and under conditions applicable and alike to all persons; and
WHEREAS, over the years, the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland has sought the incorporation of this principle into law through the adoption of the model White Cane Law and amendments; and
WHEREAS, each day thousands of blind Marylanders confidently Join the throngs of pedestrians who make their way from point A to point B through parking lots, along roads having no sidewalks, across roads and streets having no crosswalks or traffic signals within a reasonable distance, and crossing intersections where significant numbers of motor vehicles can be expected to cross their paths in an incautious or dangerous manner; and
WHEREAS, the methods which blind people use in safely dealing with these hazards are not always well understood by the driving public and law enforcement officials: Now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled this fourth day of October, 1987, in the City of Frostburg, Maryland, that this organization urges that the Maryland Chiefs-of-Police Association and the Maryland State's Attorneys Association, work with the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland through education, demonstration, and legislation to improve the awareness of everyone's responsibilities and capabilities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland work with these organizations to make the streets and roadways safer for all pedestrians, blind and sighted.