Downtown Walk Marks White Cane Day

Since the 1930s, the White Cane Law and has been in effect in Florida. The law is intended to guarantee that disabled pedestrians have the ability to travel streets and highways.

The law means that traffic is required to yield to anyone in the crosswalk who is traveling with a white cane, guide dog, or any other mobility device. The law is often ignored and by the very nature of their disability, the visually impaired community cannot witness infractions themselves.

Traffic on Manatee Avenue in downtown Bradenton rushes past with people on their way to meetings, late for appointments or tourists heading out to enjoy the beach.  All this makes crossing an intersection a risky undertaking.  Now imagine you had to cross the street with all the construction in the area and you didn’t have the luxury of sight.  Rather, you relied on a cane to alert you to bumps in the road or a guide dog to take you safely by obstacles and keep you from walking out in front of traffic.

Every year local organizations hold community events to draw attention to this law, which is part of Chapter 413 of the Florida Statutes. The Manatee County Council of the Blind, Southeastern Guide Dogs, Lighthouse of Manasota, Division of Blind Services and Lion’s Club International collaborated for this year’s awareness walk.

On Thursday several groups, white canes in hand or guide dogs at their side,  ignored the rain to take to the the streets downtown. They made their way through construction hazards and traffic in the streets to city hall where proclamations recognizing White Cane Day from both the city and county were read aloud.