Shoveling Your Sidewalk Might Save My Life!

During winter, I often wheel in the streets due to snow-caked sidewalks. It's no fun taking my life into my hands every day, but when sidewalks aren't shoveled, I have no other options.

People make glib comments - "stay at home", "get a power chair", "use para-transit". I work, so staying at home isn't a good idea when bills must be paid. Contrary to popular belief, a power wheelchair won't get through six inches of snow, ice, or slush - the wheels will simply spin uselessly. Para-transit is for people whose disabilities prevent them from using fixed-route buses or trains. One has to apply for the service, and have a doctor's statement to that effect. I am fully capable of using the regular buses and don't qualify.

Come with me as I head for the bus stop to go to work. I leave my apartment building and wheel down the sidewalk. Fortunately, the building manager makes sure that the sidewalks are shoveled clean and salted up to, and including the driveway, where their property ends. The sidewalk beyond that, up to the end of the block, is caked with snow, forcing me into the street. It's fairly busy, with two-way traffic. I roll Westbound, against oncoming traffic so that hopefully, cars can see me. I try to stay on the shoulder, where it's safer, but two things prevent this - the sloping of the shoulder, which makes it very difficult to wheel, and the fact that snowplows typically push the snow onto the shoulder, where it piles up. That means I'm forced to wheel in the median of the road - scary!

I make it to the end of the block, and check to see if the curb cut is clear. Curb cuts are ramps located at the end of each block, and at traffic intersections. They allow a wheelchair user to safely leave the sidewalk and cross the street. When snowplows clear snow they usually push it against these, so I'm stuck in the street. I approach a very busy one-way road, with traffic going Southbound, and travel three blocks in that direction. Bundled up against Rochester's frigid winter, I can't see or hear the cars bearing down on me.

Arriving at the bus stop, I ride to work, but upon alighting find that the sidewalk and curb cut are knee-deep in snow. I've arranged with the receptionist at work to send over a couple of male colleagues if I am stranded, so I call and am rescued. This is my daily routine until the snow melts.

At times, snow is piled so high at the bus stop that I must wait in the street for my bus because the wheelchair lift won't operate properly in deep snow. This usually results in the police being called, and me having to educate officers about the realities of getting about in a wheelchair during winter. They always understand my plight.

So please folks - whether you are private citizens or business owners, clear the snow from the sidewalks in front of your property. If you can't do it yourself, have someone do it for you. At the very least, you're being a good neighbor, but you might be saving someone's life.