Teaching students to recognize and deal with Situations of Uncertainty at uncontrolled crossings

A significant aspect of Orientation and Mobility is teaching travellers with visual impairments systematic methods to access their environment and evolving these methods to match the complexity of the world around us. At crossings where there is no traffic signal or stop sign, there are increasingly many situations where it is no longer best practice to assume it is clear to cross when quiet, or simply re-route and avoid. This article explains a step-by-step method O&M specialists can use for teaching travellers with visual impairments how to determine if a crossing is a “Situation of Uncertainty” or a “Situation of Confidence” by helping them develop an intuitive understanding of their own crossing time; learn to intuitively and accurately compare their crossing time with the warning time of approaching vehicles; and judge whether or not they can be confident that it is clear to cross whenever it is quiet in that situation. Following this, the article discusses a method that learners can use to determine the level of risk at any given crossing so they can decide if the level of risk is acceptable or unacceptable to them.