Navigating New York City’s sidewalks and crosswalks before the coronavirus pandemic was dangerous enough, especially for blind people. But, according to The New York Times, the pandemic has made crossing the city’s streets even riskier and more stressful. The coronavirus pandemic has reduced the flow of traffic at times leaving streets in some neighborhoods relatively empty –suggesting a potentially safer situation for visually impaired pedestrians.
Audible Signals
However, this is not the case. For those who cannot see, the normal roar of traffic moving past them provides important cues – often the only ones – about when it’s time to venture into a crosswalk. As one visually impaired man tells the Times: “Quiet is not good for blind people.” Visually impaired people also often depend on audible signals that tell pedestrians when they have the go-ahead to cross the street. The vast majority of the city’s 13,200 crossings are not equipped with such signals.
As a result, a federal judge has found that the city has failed to protect some of the city’s most vulnerable residents from pedestrian accidents. The judge ruled in October that the absence of these devices known as Accessible Pedestrian Signals violated the civil rights of blind people by denying them equal access to the city’s crosswalks.
At a Disadvantage
The judge wrote that visually impaired New Yorkers must risk being hit by cars and bicycles and becoming stranded dangerously in the middle of intersections. The court ordered the city to negotiate with the group that filed the lawsuit, the American Council of the Blind in New York, on a remedy for the lack of audible signals.
While the Department of Transportation has implemented “leading pedestrian intervals,” which give walkers a head start of several seconds before the light turns green for parallel traffic, advocates for the visually impaired say it does not help them because they rely on traffic noise for cues.
Without the sound of engines in motion, they are left standing at the curb while sighted people rush across the street. While other pedestrians would offer guidance with an elbow clasp earlier, now with COVID-19 they are less likely to get close. To make matters more complicated, sidewalks and streets are filled with new obstacles such as dining tables surrounded by makeshift barricades and tents.
Contacting an Experienced Lawyer
Injured victims of pedestrian accidents can seek compensation from at-fault parties for damages including, but not limited to, medical expenses, lost wages and benefits, hospitalization, rehabilitation, permanent injuries, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc. Families that have lost loved ones in pedestrian accidents can seek compensation for damages such as lost future income, medical and funeral costs, pain and suffering, etc.
If you or a loved one has been injured in a pedestrian accident, or if you have lost a loved one in an auto accident caused by a negligent (careless) driver, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Pedestrian accident victims and their families should remember that they may be able to seek compensation for injuries or losses in collisions even if the victim was not walking in a marked crosswalk and even if the driver involved in collision was not charged. Our law firm recovered the full one million dollar insurance policy for a girl who was not in the crosswalk when a motor vehicle hit her.
For over 49 years, our skilled accident attorneys have established a proven track record of helping injured victims get fair compensation for their losses. Our law firm recently recovered $5,600,000 for a bicyclist who was hit by a van, and $2,550,000 for another victim of a truck accident, and $3,000,000 for a pedestrian who was hit by a car, and the full $1,000,000 insurance policy for a pedestrian who was hit by a truck, and $4,625,000 for a driver who was in a car and was hit by a van, and $2,500,000 for a man who fell through an improperly secured hole. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury and medical malpractice cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/nyregion/nyc-blind-pedestrian-signals.html