City sidewalks, busy sidewalks. Dressed in seasonal cracks.
It’s most assuredly not the most wonderful time of the year for men and women, boys and girls, even cats and dogs, as they navigate city streets that are plagued with gaping cracks, huge chunks of sidewalk missing, with portions of sidewalk squares actually lifted, posing a stumble and tumble risk. A friend recently fell victim to Fredericton’s appalling sidewalks, fortunate not to have sustained a more serious injury than scraped hands and knee. Ouch.
Here's the sidewalk upon which my friend took her tumble. If you look around at 'landmarks', you'll figure out where it is.
Scarily, a person whether young or old, could become incapacitated for several weeks just walking to the corner store. That’s not right. That’s not okay.
It’s especially not okay when we think about those who live with daily challenges to mobility, requiring devices like canes or crutches to move about on city streets. Disabilities like cerebral palsy, for those who are able to move along without assistive aids pose particular challenges as they make their way along sidewalks riddled with cracks, dips and lifts.
Our lives are a balancing act at the best of times and a crutch or cane tip caught in a crack can unceremoniously take down those easily put off balance. Very often, in an effort to save themselves, the falling person does more harm, with the twisting motion to slow the descent. With that, a hip may break.
As well, given the state of disrepair of far too many sidewalks, the very old who still enjoy a daily walk are one serious fall away from loss of independent living to full time residency in a nursing home. Ignoring that particular problem will not make it go away. We all have a right to freedom of movement with safety within our communities and if the sidewalks are in a chronic state of disrepair that’s not only shameful, it’s criminal. It’s up to everyone to speak up. Grumbling about the state of city streets and walkways doesn’t get them repaired. It just makes people more angry. If you see a problem, speak up. That, my friends, is your job as a fully-formed, functioning human being. No shirking!
Ensuring that citizens are able to enjoy the places where they live requires that sidewalks and roads be safe. After all, tax payers have the expectation that their dollars are working for them, not just for the people ‘at the top’ who administer doling out the funds set aside for routine and necessary sidewalk maintenance; accountability is critical. It is the right of all to expect that when issues of safety are brought up before the ‘city fathers’ that action will be taken. Waiting for months, a year, two years, is wrong and should never be tolerated. Passing the buck should not be the ‘gold standard’. If people in power really don’t know what they are doing, they should find their spine, speak up and suggest someone better suited to the job be found. It’s the right thing to do.
In our current post-COVID climate, I’ll still be wearing a mask in public, as I believe it’s important to ensure the safety of all, being particularly respectful to those who require extra care and attention. By the same token, city planners must be respectful in these post-COVID times of the realities imposed by COVID’s financial costs. Many people have had to forego driving their cars because of costs; they’re walking or using city transit. In walking, they need to be and feel safe. The streets where they live must not be the thing in their life that takes them down and out.
Aging in place is the ideal for seniors, married, widowed or otherwise; advanced age affects physical and emotional health in ways not appreciated by the younger generations and the cost of care in settings outside the home have shot through the proverbial roof, putting quality care out of reach for so many.
A scraped knee or elbow, sustained from stumbling on poorly maintained sidewalks and streets is no small thing for many folks over 40. We don’t bounce. Many of us break. Some of us break in multiple places in a single falling event. Perhaps rubberized sidewalks is the answer. Hmm.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with Miss Lexie, a rambunctious Maltese and Mr. Malcolm, a boisterous Havanese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca
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