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capri0mniOkay, because I crossposted this from DreamWidth to Livejournal (my default, unless I'm doing a poll), I've got replies in both places. I'm rounding them up and counting them up (this was a not-poll poll, basically) and posting further comments here, so the two halves of my access / friends list can see each other. The snippets of replies are snippets, and taken out of context. To see what people said in the fullness of their own words, here are the links to the reply threads at DreamWidth and at LiveJournal.
People who live incapri0mni's reality.
People who live in Aide Audrey's reality:
Okay, so Audrey is not entirely insane; it seems that many of you (even those of you who prefer sidewalks) are able to walk comfortably along the shoulder of the road without an absolute, spine-quaking dread.
However, I am not entirely insane, either, and many of you agree with me that sidewalks / pavements are an attribute of an advanced, civilized society.
It seems to boil down to this: what you grew up with is what you consider normal and safe.
In Chesapeake, where I live, local zoning laws only require sidewalks along four-lane highways, anything with fewer lanes, you're expected to walk along the shoulder of the road.
Children who live less than a mile from school are expected to walk to and from school, along the shoulder of roads, as young as five years old, or their parents drive them.
This past winter, when we had an insane amount of snow and ice (normal for mid-Hudson New York, not normal for Tidewater Virginia), it was revealed that local business owners had absolutely no legal requirement to clear their parking lots of ice, or make sure it was safe for people to walk from their cars, across the parking lot, into the business. The responsibility for safety was placed entirely on the individual walker. If you were elderly, had bum legs, or happened to be wearing leather-soled or high-heeled business shoes, than tough -- sorry for that broken hip. They might be required to provide x number of spaces for cars, but not to provide anything for the walkers inside those cars...
The local ambulette service (for wheelchairs users, who don't have access to driving / public transport) requires you to call up and schedule a pick-up exactly 48 hours in advance. And they no longer provide curb-to-curb service. They will only drop you off within 1/3 of a mile of an existing bus stop (where there is often no sidewalk, because most roads are less than four lanes wide). Because according to ADA, they're only required to provide equal access to the services provided to the able-bodied, and if the able-bodied are dropped off at bus stops, so are wheelchair users. Makes sense, right? It's the letter of the law.
Puttering along the shoulder of the road in a wheelchair is trickier than walking along the shoulder of the road because the shoulder is often slanted at a steeper angle to allow for stormwater runoff, and it is harder to steer a wheelchair safely when you're handling tilted ground, because each wheel is driven by an individual motor, but both motors are controlled by single joystick, so it gets fiddly and uncomfortable to keep your chair going in a straight line, and even more so when you have to go around a corner on tilted ground. Also, the shoulder of the road tends to be a collection spot for twigs, leaves, litter, pebbles etc. that can cause wheels to slip and lose traction. Even when sidewalk pavers are broken and cracked, they're usually more level than the shoulder, and I can bounce fairly well over the broken bits (though I much prefer unbroken sidewalks -- and there's no reason why new sidewalks can't be made of tarmac instead of concrete).
If the ground is at all wet from heavy rain, driving a power wheelchair is impossible on grass: 1) the grass is slippery, and the wheels will spin, and 2) you will sink up to your axles in the mud. Also, the grass verges provided for pedestrians are often too narrow for wheelchairs.
*Sigh* and to think, I especially decided to move to this city because I was promised that it was wheelchair-friendly. [/rant]
People who live in
capri0mni's reality.- jesse_the_k: Yes, I'll travel in the road (against traffic) if I absolutely have to, but I hate it.
- meloukhia: I'm pidedal and I *loathe* being forced onto the shoulder with a passion.
- spiralsheep: Human beings deserve pavements as much as cars deserve roads.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rob_t_firefly: I can comfortably walk on the shoulder [...] However, I vastly prefer sidewalks where available.- daibhid_c: Where I live, nearly everywhere has sidewalks/pavements. Most of the exceptions are busy highways...
- (LiveJournal User with a f'locked journal): I walk where there's a sidewalk. If one side of the road has a sidewalk, and the side I'm on doesn't, I'll cross.
- scarfman: Definitely prefer sidewalks.
- pedanther: In my daily life, we have sidewalks. And where we don't have sidewalks, there's generally at least enough room on either side of the road for a person to walk without having to go into the road itself.
- lizziebelle: I walk on the side of the road if I have to, but I much prefer the sidewalk.
- elfycat: Our suburbs are partially not side-walked. In the day time, when it's bright, it's okay. [... ...] But yes, overall, sidewalks are clearly superior to the shoulder of the road.
People who live in Aide Audrey's reality:
- blinovitch: If the shoulder is available, I walk on it without qualm. [...] I'm reasonably confident of using the shoulder in the daytime.
- alto2: Where I am now, I think most neighborhoods have sidewalks, but I often prefer the road because it does not tend to have the issues sidewalks do; to wit, the tendancy for the individual sidewalk materials/tiles (for want of a better word [capri0mni's note: A better word is "pavers," perhaps?]), to have dips, cracks, etc. [...] Tarmac seems to handle such things much more gracefully than concrete.
Okay, so Audrey is not entirely insane; it seems that many of you (even those of you who prefer sidewalks) are able to walk comfortably along the shoulder of the road without an absolute, spine-quaking dread.
However, I am not entirely insane, either, and many of you agree with me that sidewalks / pavements are an attribute of an advanced, civilized society.
It seems to boil down to this: what you grew up with is what you consider normal and safe.
In Chesapeake, where I live, local zoning laws only require sidewalks along four-lane highways, anything with fewer lanes, you're expected to walk along the shoulder of the road.
Children who live less than a mile from school are expected to walk to and from school, along the shoulder of roads, as young as five years old, or their parents drive them.
This past winter, when we had an insane amount of snow and ice (normal for mid-Hudson New York, not normal for Tidewater Virginia), it was revealed that local business owners had absolutely no legal requirement to clear their parking lots of ice, or make sure it was safe for people to walk from their cars, across the parking lot, into the business. The responsibility for safety was placed entirely on the individual walker. If you were elderly, had bum legs, or happened to be wearing leather-soled or high-heeled business shoes, than tough -- sorry for that broken hip. They might be required to provide x number of spaces for cars, but not to provide anything for the walkers inside those cars...
The local ambulette service (for wheelchairs users, who don't have access to driving / public transport) requires you to call up and schedule a pick-up exactly 48 hours in advance. And they no longer provide curb-to-curb service. They will only drop you off within 1/3 of a mile of an existing bus stop (where there is often no sidewalk, because most roads are less than four lanes wide). Because according to ADA, they're only required to provide equal access to the services provided to the able-bodied, and if the able-bodied are dropped off at bus stops, so are wheelchair users. Makes sense, right? It's the letter of the law.
Puttering along the shoulder of the road in a wheelchair is trickier than walking along the shoulder of the road because the shoulder is often slanted at a steeper angle to allow for stormwater runoff, and it is harder to steer a wheelchair safely when you're handling tilted ground, because each wheel is driven by an individual motor, but both motors are controlled by single joystick, so it gets fiddly and uncomfortable to keep your chair going in a straight line, and even more so when you have to go around a corner on tilted ground. Also, the shoulder of the road tends to be a collection spot for twigs, leaves, litter, pebbles etc. that can cause wheels to slip and lose traction. Even when sidewalk pavers are broken and cracked, they're usually more level than the shoulder, and I can bounce fairly well over the broken bits (though I much prefer unbroken sidewalks -- and there's no reason why new sidewalks can't be made of tarmac instead of concrete).
If the ground is at all wet from heavy rain, driving a power wheelchair is impossible on grass: 1) the grass is slippery, and the wheels will spin, and 2) you will sink up to your axles in the mud. Also, the grass verges provided for pedestrians are often too narrow for wheelchairs.
*Sigh* and to think, I especially decided to move to this city because I was promised that it was wheelchair-friendly. [/rant]
no subject
Date: 2010-05-19 09:58 pm (UTC)That's twisted. Thank ~DOG~ for dial-a-ride.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-19 10:08 pm (UTC)I received a form letter in the mail, informing me of the change only after the change had been made, and it was phrased this way:
We've changed our policy in order to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, in order to conform to the law...
*headdesk*