mark handler
SAWHORSE
By Bill DiPaolo
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
PALM BEACH GARDENS —
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/raised-crossing-dots-help-some-are-bumps-in-road-t/nPzkS/
Ethel Orlando blames those raised yellow dots at sidewalk crossings for ruining her life.
Ethel Orlando fell on the sidewalk outside the Palm Beach Gardens branch of the Palm Beach County library after she tripped on the yellow dotted mats near the library entrance. Orlando suffered face and head lacerations and her daughter Randi Pecan said her mother has internal brain injuries, too.
“I used to be so active. Now I’m shaky. I can’t drive. My memory’s shot. They should get rid of those things. They don’t help the handicapped. They make you handicapped,” said the 85-year-old retired secretary.
The Gardens resident tripped over the dots June 16 while she was returning books to the Palm Beach County Library in Palm Beach Gardens about 10:30 a.m. The retired secretary received a concussion, stitches and spent a week in St. Mary’s Medical Center.
Not all agree.
Some people with disabilities say the quarter-sized markers on yellow mats on downtown sidewalks, shopping centers and Tri-Rail stations give them better access and make getting around safer.
“Without the bumps, a disabled person could go right out into the street,” said Bob Pierce, a Boca Raton attorney who has been in a wheelchair 35 years.
Carolyn Lapp, who is blind, said without the dots, blind people could walk into intersections. She said she has never tripped over one. She feels them with her cane.
“The bumps are important for safety. They let me know where the boundary of the street is,” said Lapp, who is executive director of the Florida Outreach Center for the Blind in Palm Springs.
The ADA in 1990 required that curbs be removed and ramps installed where streets meet sidewalks. Ramps give easier access to those in wheelchairs and with walking disabilities, according to the ADA.
But installing the ramps took away the means for those who are blind or with visual impairments to tell when they were stepping from the curb to the street. The ADA now requires “detectable warnings” when installing and altering curb ramps. The dots, known as truncated domes, are one method that can be used. Another is grooves in the pavement.
The dispute over the dots shows the need for more education on the needs of the disabled, Lapp said. Money spend on installing the dots would be better spent on mobility training to teach the disabled how to better cope with their disability, she said.
“When I was growing up, I had a whole year of mobility training. I learned to use a cane. My instructors dropped me off, and I had to find my way back. I learned how to shop in a store. Today’s blind people are lucky to get five quick lessons,” Lapp said.
The bumps on the mats ‘are important for safety. They let me know where the boundary of the street is,’ says Carolyn Lapp, who is executive director of the Florida Outreach Center for the Blind in Palm Springs. Others say the bumps, which sit one-quarter inch above the pavement, are too tall and can make some pedestrians trip.
The dots are about one-fourth of an inch above the pavement — about the height of four stacked quarters — at the Gardens library.
That’s too high, said Randy Pecan, Ethel’s daughter.
“An able-bodied person can easily get their shoe hooked onto one of the dots. Unless you have the quick reactions of a 20-year-old, it’s easy to fall on these things,” Pecan said.
Pecan spoke to lawyers about filing a lawsuit. After investigating, the lawyers declined, saying the dots complied with ADA and building regulations.
“They said there was no negligence,” Pecan said.
Orlando and Pecan are joined in their opposition to the dots by some people in wheelchairs.
Some complain the dots are slippery when it rains. Getting over the bumps is especially tough for those in manual wheelchairs. Going over the dots can be painful to those with spinal injuries, said Joe Savarese, owner of Homecare America, a Jupiter company that rents, sells and repairs wheelchairs.
“Whoever invented those things is not in a wheelchair,” Savarese said.
Dorothy Brand, 83, points out the irony that the devices meant to help can result in injury.
The retired schoolteacher was leaving Walgreen’s on PGA Boulevard west of Florida’s Turnpike in April 2011, when she stumbled on the dots. She landed face first on the pavement. She went to the emergency room at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and got about five stitches in her chin. Her ribs hurt for several months.
“I saw the bumps on the sidewalk outside the emergency room. I couldn’t believe it,” said Brand, a retired school teacher who visits Palm Beach Gardens in the winter months from New York.
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
PALM BEACH GARDENS —
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local/raised-crossing-dots-help-some-are-bumps-in-road-t/nPzkS/
Ethel Orlando blames those raised yellow dots at sidewalk crossings for ruining her life.
Ethel Orlando fell on the sidewalk outside the Palm Beach Gardens branch of the Palm Beach County library after she tripped on the yellow dotted mats near the library entrance. Orlando suffered face and head lacerations and her daughter Randi Pecan said her mother has internal brain injuries, too.
“I used to be so active. Now I’m shaky. I can’t drive. My memory’s shot. They should get rid of those things. They don’t help the handicapped. They make you handicapped,” said the 85-year-old retired secretary.
The Gardens resident tripped over the dots June 16 while she was returning books to the Palm Beach County Library in Palm Beach Gardens about 10:30 a.m. The retired secretary received a concussion, stitches and spent a week in St. Mary’s Medical Center.
Not all agree.
Some people with disabilities say the quarter-sized markers on yellow mats on downtown sidewalks, shopping centers and Tri-Rail stations give them better access and make getting around safer.
“Without the bumps, a disabled person could go right out into the street,” said Bob Pierce, a Boca Raton attorney who has been in a wheelchair 35 years.
Carolyn Lapp, who is blind, said without the dots, blind people could walk into intersections. She said she has never tripped over one. She feels them with her cane.
“The bumps are important for safety. They let me know where the boundary of the street is,” said Lapp, who is executive director of the Florida Outreach Center for the Blind in Palm Springs.
The ADA in 1990 required that curbs be removed and ramps installed where streets meet sidewalks. Ramps give easier access to those in wheelchairs and with walking disabilities, according to the ADA.
But installing the ramps took away the means for those who are blind or with visual impairments to tell when they were stepping from the curb to the street. The ADA now requires “detectable warnings” when installing and altering curb ramps. The dots, known as truncated domes, are one method that can be used. Another is grooves in the pavement.
The dispute over the dots shows the need for more education on the needs of the disabled, Lapp said. Money spend on installing the dots would be better spent on mobility training to teach the disabled how to better cope with their disability, she said.
“When I was growing up, I had a whole year of mobility training. I learned to use a cane. My instructors dropped me off, and I had to find my way back. I learned how to shop in a store. Today’s blind people are lucky to get five quick lessons,” Lapp said.
The bumps on the mats ‘are important for safety. They let me know where the boundary of the street is,’ says Carolyn Lapp, who is executive director of the Florida Outreach Center for the Blind in Palm Springs. Others say the bumps, which sit one-quarter inch above the pavement, are too tall and can make some pedestrians trip.
The dots are about one-fourth of an inch above the pavement — about the height of four stacked quarters — at the Gardens library.
That’s too high, said Randy Pecan, Ethel’s daughter.
“An able-bodied person can easily get their shoe hooked onto one of the dots. Unless you have the quick reactions of a 20-year-old, it’s easy to fall on these things,” Pecan said.
Pecan spoke to lawyers about filing a lawsuit. After investigating, the lawyers declined, saying the dots complied with ADA and building regulations.
“They said there was no negligence,” Pecan said.
Orlando and Pecan are joined in their opposition to the dots by some people in wheelchairs.
Some complain the dots are slippery when it rains. Getting over the bumps is especially tough for those in manual wheelchairs. Going over the dots can be painful to those with spinal injuries, said Joe Savarese, owner of Homecare America, a Jupiter company that rents, sells and repairs wheelchairs.
“Whoever invented those things is not in a wheelchair,” Savarese said.
Dorothy Brand, 83, points out the irony that the devices meant to help can result in injury.
The retired schoolteacher was leaving Walgreen’s on PGA Boulevard west of Florida’s Turnpike in April 2011, when she stumbled on the dots. She landed face first on the pavement. She went to the emergency room at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and got about five stitches in her chin. Her ribs hurt for several months.
“I saw the bumps on the sidewalk outside the emergency room. I couldn’t believe it,” said Brand, a retired school teacher who visits Palm Beach Gardens in the winter months from New York.
