Heel toe, heel toe....lift your feet higher than you think you need to, take your time on steps, always use the hand rail, stand up straight and look ahead.
These were words said to me by physiotherapists, after I tripped and broke my arm. They are still in my head coming up to 16 years later! I take care all the time and they were brought home to me last week, when we saw someone trip over in our main road in town. It is paved in blocks to be a pedestrian way, there are broken ones and out of alinement ones. I walk very carefully, as there deep dips too, where possibly heavy delivery lorries have been.
When I saw that lady fall, I started to cry, I get very emotional. Fortunately she wasn't hurt and with help was able to get up. Unlike a gentleman who fell just before Christmas, and was on the ground for over 3 hours waiting for an ambulance! People got blankets for him, poor man.
So you can understand why I keep in mind those physio instructions.. and of course I have Rhett Butler, my wheels.
Councils don't seem to care about pedestrian safety and repairs are very slow to be done... money? What are your walk ways like where you live?
Chrisxx
15 comments:
Our village was done a couple of years ago, they just replaced all the broken ones and tried to level others, but it's just as bad again, they allow the market traders to drive over them.
Our council has spent millions on another 200 yards of cycle lane where no cyclist has ever been seen. It has a pedestrian crossing place in miniature, all built according to regulations. The various sign posts still stand right in the middle of this marked lane.
Workmen went out where a neglected pothole has become a collapsed area of road. They sat in their lorries all day watching the rain. Box ticked, but work still not done.
How sad for the man that fell that laid there for so long. In our little town which is very old has very old sidewalks. I don't walk in town very often because of where I live. But when I do you cannot walk unless you look down at your feet for all that cracked cement.
Cobblestones look nice but after visiting Europe found them very uncomfortable to walk on, and a hazard. The council here is flush with money and repaved our cul de sac with attractive brick paving. They're always doing Something (that is, when they're not fighting over infill).
There's a tropical cyclone up north, tracking south giving us the leftover weather, windy, wet weekend coming up. Batten down everything including your pets.
I think it's a world wide issue. With changing seasons and grounds freezing and defrosting and rain the sidewalks shift. Where I live they get repaired and trip hazards taken care of every single spring. It's an unending job.
Our pavements aren't too bad, just very narrow on the main shopping street, but the roads now that is a whole other story. We have potholes with traffic cones stood in them, one has a sandbag that someone put in it and the others are edged in white as though they are about to be repaired ... they never are.
Roads and paths alike are full of potholes - a hazard if someone isn't looking where they're going.
Same here.
We have no sidewalks in this very small township. Walking is on the side of the road. You are wise to be ever mindful of your walking.
I live in a small town and most streets have no sidewalks at all. Just the main road through town has sidewalks. The sidewalks that are there though are in good condition.
"What are your walk ways like where you live?"
Not good! It seems paths and pavements are going the same way as our roads and potholes!
All the best Jan
My mantra from my PT is "be mindful" "be mindful". I don't lift my left foot as high as my right foot so I don't need any reason to trip myself, I just do.
We have a emergency services scanner and every time I hear an EMS call for someone who fell, my heart jumps. My little journey in the ambulance was when I somehow fell in my kitchen while washing dishes and got a displaced spiral fracture of the left humerus. Not fun.
A lot of places here don't have pavements at all! Glad the lady was okay!
That is a shame that the road is difficult for oldies. They should have a smooth path beside the road. I'm glad that you take care. I am always looking out for my hubby who had a fall a few years ago and ended up in hospital. so I'm always checking where he walks.
Re footpaths, I should have mentioned the new footpaths are level with the road so you can't trip. It's uncommon to see a road that doesn't have footpaths either side.
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