COLUMN: Falling down
I have never been a particularly graceful person.
Despite brief stints on the track and tennis teams in my glory days, I have never been an athlete.
In grade school, I bowled a 27 at my cousins’s birthday party.
There were bumpers involved.
Still, I have fallen a record number of times this winter. While the sidewalks on campus are finally being regularly salted and cleared, the sidewalks in my neighborhood and downtown remain thoroughly glacial.
In a lot of places, it makes a lot more sense to walk in the street or on people’s lawns, which isn’t exactly safe or fair to the homeowners. Pedestrians shouldn’t have to choose between falling, risking getting hit by a car or trespassing.
This might seem like a trite subject, but don’t confuse slip and fall accidents with cartoon banana peels. I have never come away without anything more than a bruised ego or backside all the times I have biffed it, but there are plenty of people who aren’t so lucky.
I was speaking to a student in one of my classes last week who is dealing with neurological problems after falling, hitting her head and suffering a concussion. For people with pre-existing mobility issues or the elderly, falling isn’t silly — it’s dangerous.
It might be a pain for me to navigate our frosty footpaths, but it’s a much more daunting proposition for someone on crutches or in a wheelchair.
People with disabilities, like my Mom, who has a knee replacement and has a very hard time getting around in a supermarket, let alone on a rink, shouldn’t be forced to stick to cars as the only means of safe transportation.
Obviously, there are economic and environmental reasons every sidewalk can’t be cleared, sanded or salted. But that’s no reason to collectively give up on better, safer infrastructure. In order to continue to move toward a healthier and “greener” future, cities need to be walkable. It’s very hard to see how an impassably icy sidewalk helps us toward that admirable goal.
With budgets stretched, maintenance is one of the first things that gets trimmed, but maybe a bit of perspective is needed. Funding for winter sidewalk maintenance would make cities safer, more assessable to more people and encourage healthier habits.
According to a 2010 report from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, falling is the leading cause of non-lethal injury for Americans across every age category. While many of these occur inside the home, falling on ice remains a clear and present danger. It’s also one that’s entirely preventable.
Continuing to ignore the concrete luge leading from Bellows to Broadway leaves us on a slippery slope.
