Over here, these critters cause those blind shoots:
- Lampronia morosa (a good article over this-one in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampronia_morosa) do not forget the prefix of that link.
- Anthonomus rubi, the strawberry-blossom weevil or strawberry blossom weevil.

The late Bob Melville advised me that the timing of winter pruning affected the number of blind shoots a rose produced as it came away after pruning. We were discussing Hybrid Teas in Perth. He said that in his experience, pruning too early in our mild winters led to many more blind shoots. (Perth tends to get its coldest weather in late winter, early spring.)
As a general observation, I have noticed more blind shoots in roses that are stressed for any reason. Here it is usually heat stress when we have a retic drama that allows the soil to get very dry.

In the US blind shoots are often caused by the tiny insect known as midge, which will devour a growing tip, leaving a burnt look (a black charred look, but small, where there once was a growth tip) where they have done their damage. Midge can be a pesky critter which is difficult to truly eradicate - even with the use of various chemical remedies.

Somewhere I have read that a blind shoot should be treated the same as a flowering shoot in terms of general care. Prune it down like you would a stem that flowered. Blind shoots can be rooted as well. Other than lack of bloom the blind shoot does no harm and if you leave the foliage on it will do its part to produce food for the bush via photosynthesis.