By Jennifer Saltman
Snow and ice are taking over, making the sidewalks in Centretown more treacherous to manoeuvre. But if pedestrians think they have a hard time, they should try travelling by wheelchair or scooter.
Instead of using the sidewalks — which Charles Matthews, president of the advocacy group Disabled and Proud, says can be “like riding over boulders” — many wheelchair users have taken to the roads.
“There are some people who can use the sidewalks, but in our climate the reason why they use the streets is because that’s the only part that is bare,” Matthews says..
“There are a lot of places that it’s impossible to use the sidewalks because it’s just not plowed properly.”
Giles Warren, vice-chair of the City of Ottawa accessibility advisory committee, agrees.
“Except in the best of weather, you have snow piles at the end of blocks and there’s ice. Any amount of snow can restrict your movement,” he says.
Warren added that although snowy sidewalks have not come up as an agenda item for the committee, people have used the meetings to vent their frustration. Matthews says this is likely because the disabled have accepted that nothing will be done.
Not only is it inconvenient to have to use the roads, Matthews says it can also be dangerous.
“As far as being on the road, it is a safety hazard. More than likely it’s going to happen one day that a car is going to slide into a wheelchair or a scooter. I wouldn’t want to see the results of that,” he says.
In Centretown the streets are muddy, but not as snowy as some areas because of the heavy pedestrian traffic, especially on Bank Street, says Matthews.
Matthews says his major concern is when the roads get plowed, the recessed curbs at the end of the blocks aren’t always clear.
Sometimes they can be blocked with almost a foot of snow, which is hard to get over in a wheelchair or scooter.
“A lot of our members end up taking the road because even if you can get on a sidewalk you can go the whole city block and find out when you get to the end you can’t get off,” he says. “That happens a lot.”
Matthews says he thinks snow clearing in Ottawa “could be done a lot better.”
“Not only the sidewalk from one end to the other, but definitely the ends of the sidewalks have to be done. If you can’t get on or off, it defeats the whole purpose,” he says.
Ivan Grenier, from Centretown Road Service, a snowclearing contractor, says the city sends out its road crews much later after a snowfall than before, and they block of the work that has already been done on the sidewalks. He says the cost of going back to fix the mess can be prohibitive.
“It (blocking the ends of sidewalks) happens quite often. The city will not open a laneway for anybody,” he says.
A representative from the city could not be reached for comment.
Although Matthews says the police have no problem with wheelchairs on the roads — as long as they obey traffic rules — most people using scooters or wheelchairs would prefer the safety of the sidewalk.
“Ninety per cent of our members would love to use the sidewalks, but if we can’t we have no choice,” says Matthews. “This is where the problem is.”