I got a curious call the other day from a man with an odd complaint. He was tired of people calling the police on him when they see him walking.

Why are they calling the police, I asked?

I’m blind, explained Anthony Ray, who lives in a trailer park on Moeller Road in New Haven. He has been using a cane since he was about 8 years old, and now he uses a guide dog, the second one he’s had.

Walking is really the only way he has to get around, he said, so he walks, along Moeller Road, along Adams Center Road, down Indiana 930 east of New Haven, sometimes miles at a time.

He walks in the rain when he has to, and he uses a GPS that speaks to him to navigate his way.

Since he moved to New Haven five months ago, though, people have repeatedly been calling the police when they see him.

The calls aren’t malicious. They come from people who see him walking with his dog and become concerned that he might be in trouble. Essentially, they are worried about him.

Once, two different people called police about him during the same walk. The police, in turn, respond. They have to respond to all the calls they get.

Ray isn’t upset with the police. He’s upset that people are so worried about him.

“I appreciate their concerns,” Ray said, “but I don’t need the interruption and they (the police) don’t need the extra work. … People wouldn’t call the police on anyone else who was walking.”

Where does he walk, I asked, guessing he made trips to the store, or to a job.

What difference does it make? Ray asked.

He doesn’t need a reason to walk. He’s got as much right to walk as anyone else, he said.

“People who don’t know anything about blind people” are calling the police, he said. “I just want to get the word out to laymen who aren’t familiar with the skills and adaptability of the blind.”

Ray’s lived in Scotland, Alaska, Texas and a few other places, and he’s gotten along fine everywhere he’s lived.

I talked to the New Haven police, who confirmed that they have received numerous calls from people who are worried about Ray.

The problem, police said, is that Ray walks in the road and sometimes doesn’t wear bright or reflective clothing.

Yes, Ray confirmed, he walks with one foot in the road and one foot on the shoulder. When he hears traffic approaching he steps off the road. And yes, he does have a reflective orange vest, but there have been times when he hasn’t worn it.

He doesn’t want to get hit by a car. It’s already happened once. He was walking down a sidewalk when a driver had a seizure, ran off the road and ran him down. He doesn’t need a repeat of that.

Sure, Ray said, he could get rides from people, but he doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone, especially with gas as expensive as it is.

Plus, he has a guide dog. It needs exercise, and so does he, said Ray, who is 41.

If nothing else, people’s concerns illustrate just how car-oriented our society is. Many of the roads Ray walks, including Moeller and Adams Center, have virtually no shoulder and no sidewalks. So Ray has no choice but to walk on the edge of the road and step over when he hears traffic coming.

Perhaps people just need to be aware. There are people who walk, for any of a variety of reasons, and drivers have to be aware of them.