Oh, yes, people do dash in front of me & my cane, as if they are 'playing chicken', perhaps wanting to trip or make me collide with them, or seeing how close they can get even when there is plenty of room around. I don't get it. I've thought I'd like to electrify my cane, for a 'shocking' experience! 😼
I had one fellow yell at me, "Watch where you're going!"
I've also had kids very curious, but there parents pull them away, as if terrified, even though I don't mind explaining to kids, letting them see how the ball spins, or how I fold it, etcetra. I usually have Something hanging from the wrist cord , for kids to play with, & it also seems to help the parents relax.
One thing I find very annoying is that, while it is nice to have a braille trail*, many people have no idea about why it is there, & stand on it, chatting together, or on their phones, & would still be there when I collide with them, apparently confused & shocked.
I think there is still not enough public awareness of things like the braille trail, what having a white cane or guide dog means.
In crowded places I feel I am as a little ball in a pinball machine, bouncing off everything/everyone unless I go at a snail's pace, & risk people overtaking me & darting right in front , too close.
They do that on escalators, & stop on the step immediately in front of me & make it very difficult to step from the escalator safely.
Oh, thinking of braille trails & walking in straight lines, I once went into a narrow arcade, thinking, short-cut through to a parallel street, but somehow found I had turned myself around & had come out the way I had gone in! Keep left, I'd said. I could not figure it out. I walked around the long way, exhausted as I was that day. & maybe that's all it was, me being exhausted.
Since a simple short-cut can defeat me, I need much more than braille trails in big shopping centres.
mmMekitty
*A braille trail is a narrow strip in laid into a footpath, or along areas such a public malls with raised bumps. It is intended for people using white canes to assist them to travel safely through these pedestrian spaces. There are also marked areas near intersections, or at certain junctures, or at pedestrian crossings, for us as well, & at bus stops, etc. WE tap along & keep ourselves walking in a straight line! ,