White Cane
Resolution
We hope that the third time is the charm for House Concurrent Resolution 235, introduced by Representative Lane Evans (D-IL-17). The resolution is known by most BVA members as simply the White Cane Act. It requests that every state in the country include information in the driver education material and driver license application manuals. Such information would instruct drivers of motor vehicles to approach persons with white canes or guide dogs with recognition that such individuals are blind and that extra caution should be exercised.
The resolution actually passed the House of Representatives back on June 22, 2004 but, because the Senate failed to act on the measure, it expired at the end of the 108th Congress and was left in the Senate Transportation Committee. To prevent the same thing from occurring again this session, BVA was able to get Senate Resolution 71 introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), and Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) into the Senate Transportation Committee. BVA has been told that 10 members of the Senate and 30 members of the House are needed to get these resolutions voted on in each Committee and moved to the Floor for final concurrence.
The key points on both House Concurrent Resolution 235 and Senate Resolution 71 are that 1) the resolutions will not cost the federal government any money to enact, and 2) they will help save the lives of blind Americans who are at risk of being hit and then injured or killed. Drivers will more readily recognize that a white cane or a guide dog means that an individual is blind or visually impaired. The American Council for the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, and the National State Transportation Safety Administration all support the resolutions and our initiative to get them passed. We now have 10 co-sponsors in the House and four Senators working toward that goal. |
