To the editor:
I had an appointment with a specialist today that I could not miss, so I went. I had tried, unsuccessfully, to book a HAGI ride last week. I had no choice but to walk there in my chair, or take a bus. Since the nearest bus stop that was useable was farther away than the clinic, I decided to walk. It was terrifying.
Sidewalks were done, but had snowbanks on the ends, so I had to use the road. I walk on the side, as close as possible to the curb. I went down side streets as much as I could, but eventually, I had to use Franklin, then Arthur streets. I tried walking facing traffic, but it was scary, so I tried going with it, which was much better.
Afterward, I needed to have a prescription filled and when I called the pharmacy, their last delivery had already been sent out, so I decided to walk. I tried the sidewalks, again, but too many snowbanks and several vehicles parked across sidewalks, so back onto the roads again. Again, I tried going against the traffic, but it was very frightening. Drivers do not want to share the road, nor do they understand that my powerchair cannot get through the ends of the sidewalks.
The name powerchair is a misnomer. There is very little power, even in a high-end chair. My chair can navigate through five cenitmetres of even, dry snow for a very short period of time (a few feet), if I'm lucky. If the snow is wet or there are a lot of bumps, it is impossible.
Even when the sidewalks are cleared & the snowbanks at the end removed, there are other factors to be considered. Is the sidewalk cleared right down to the pavement or very smooth? If not, it may be too bumpy to use in a chair. I have a very bad back from years of using bumpy sidewalks.
Imagine driving your car through construction every day for 20 years. In the winter, it's even worse. Also to be considered is when people clear their driveways, there are sometimes patches of snow or sometimes ice has fallen off their car and landed on the sidewalk.
Snow sometimes blows off of people's yards onto the sidewalk, too. You can't expect people to shovel everything that blows off their yard! Another problem is that some people don't clear their driveways enough that their entire vehicle fits onto it and they end up blocking or partially blocking the sidewalk with their vehicles. This is a very common situation for me and I do call the police, but to be honest, they have a lot more important things to do than to ask people to move their cars.
I live on ODSP pension & do not have the privliege or ability to drive a vechicle, so my choices are limited.
Now to be fair, I have seen people in wheelchairs ane scooters walking/driving on the yellow line in the middle of the road, not looking before they cross streets or move out into traffic and even using their scooter like a vehicle and taking up an entire lane of traffic. I understand that it's not always the vehicle driver's fault if someone is hit.
Every year, I hear of at least two people in wheelchairs who have been hit by a car while having to use the road. Most of the time, there are no real injuries or major damage done to the chair, but that's not always the case. Must we wait for someone else to be seriously injured or killed before we do an awareness campaign? Perhaps we could do one with the Thunder Bay Police. I'd love for there to be a safety course for people who use mobility devices, as well as a safety/share the road campaign for drivers.
Perhaps I could do another Wednesday walk with the mayor and invite the rest of you to join us. It's hard to plan, but relatively soon after a snowfall would be the best time. I would also love to go for walks with members of the general public or do a video of what it's like to get around in the winter when one uses a chair.
Tracy Lynn Hurlbert,
Thunder Bay
