ORLANDO, Fla – As part of “Mobility Week” in Florida, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer along with other elected officials crossed busy Anderson Street in downtown Orlando while blindfolded.
The idea is to help spread the word about the “Blind Experience” and bring perspective to understand what it’s like to have vision loss and understand the challenges the vision impaired go through.
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Officials said an estimated 2 million residents in Florida are in need of vision rehabilitation.
Dyer explained 45,000 Central Floridians that live with vision difficulties.
This is the Florida Department of Transportation’s 6th annual mobility week, where transportation agencies host events across the state to promote pedestrian safety.
“We often say safety is our highest priority and we sincerely mean that in fact, as you heard the mayor mention earlier, our goal is zero fatalities which is why we focus our efforts on comprehensive combination of education, enforcement, engineering, and emergency response counter measures,” Jared Perdue FDOT District 5 Secretary said.
Officials highlighted the “White Cane Law” which according to the Florida Statue, when a pedestrian is crossing a street guided by a dog or carrying a white cane or a white cane with a red tip, vehicles must come to a complete stop.
FDOT is holding events throughout the rest of the week.
On Thursday, LakeXpress is set to conduct a Pedestrian Safety Day event at the Leesburg Transfer Center.