TRAFFIC CHECK...

Well, it’s happened again. Dobbs and I were cut off attempting to cross a major intersection. This time is was the corner of La Cienega and Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. We were about two thirds of the way across the street when a car ran through the red light, crossed through the crosswalk in front of us cutting Dobbs and I off nearly hitting us before making a right turn and zooming off. I wish I could see well enough to read the license plate on the cars that do this to us. I’d like to report them. The one possible saving grace this time is that the intersection is equipped with an automatic traffic ticketing camera system and hopefully the person was caught on camera running the red light. Frankly, I’m amazed that the person didn’t have a serious accident. La Cienega and Wilshire is an extremely busy intersection 24 hours a day. I don’t know how many cars travel through there each day but it must be in the tens of thousands.

Dobbs handled the incursion with his usual diligence. He stopped me and backed me up a bit to keep me away from the car. Honestly, I don’t know how I survived traveling around Los Angeles when I was using my cane. Given the number of traffic checks Dobbs and I have had it’s a miracle that I wasn’t hit crossing major intersections before I had him to watch out for the crazies behind the wheel driving in this town.

These events are always stressful on both Dobbs and I. I’ve gotten more accustomed to the idea that these sorts of things are part of traveling when you’re visually impaired but nothing ever really prepares you for them. They're always startling and a shock to the system when they happen. Dobbs always seems really freaked out by these incursions at first and then settles down within a few minutes. I always stop once we’re in a safe place and give him a few dog food kibbles and a lot of love.

For about a week after the event, Dobbs tends to be over protective of me stopping to show me every crack in the sidewalk and obstacle in our path. If there’s a possibility that a car may get within ten yards of us he stops me. What I’ve found is that the best way to get him past this behavior is to be patient with him, encourage him and most of all keep him working. I think he’s handling the stress of these events better and better each time they happen and I'm always so proud of how he takes care of me when we're confronted with these kinds of challenges.

While we were together in Guide Dog School, we had a particularly close call working a route. The stress of that event caused Dobbs to throw up soon after we got back to the dormitory. Gratefully, he hasn’t done that since then. Each time we have a traffic check he seems to be taking it more and more in stride. I don’t blame the poor guy for being stressed out by LA drivers though; I know I am. He has a lot of responsibility watching out for inattentive and discourteous drivers and there are an awful lot of them in this city…