So we had quite a bit of snowfall, which isn't all that usual anymore where I live. I just cycled to the farmers market and on the way there, in a sort of connecting plaza between a retirement home, a block of mostly older residents and a home for dementia patients, I come across an old woman in a mobility scooter, stuck in the snow.
She asks me whether I could push her to her appartement, a mere 100m away or so, as she can't get anywhere. I happily oblige, lock up my bike, and get to pushing which I'm happy to do, but sucks major ass in the snow if I'm being honest, I keep slipping and while she isn't heavy, the mobility scooter sure is.
You know what fucking irks me? All the streets for cars are of course free of even a molecule of snow, it all being cleared onto the footpaths and cycleways. But a 100m of Plaza? Get fucked, apparently.
And you know, I get the city doesn't keep enough plowing capacity to clear everything within 24 hours of snow. Last snowfall here was 5 years ago, even in a perfect society keeping that kind of capacity on call at all times is wasteful.
Why the fuck did they have to start with the fucking streets though? On a car, you're insulated, you're on 4 wheels and half of the fucking things ape being an off-road vehicle. They'll take it much, much better than anyone on foot with mobility issues, in a wheelchair, with a pram or on a bicycle.
You know the worst part? The woman kept insisting she was being uncautious, that it was a dumb thing to try and go out and that she just wouldn't anymore until the snow cleared up. Remember, we're talking 100m of footpath towards the farmers market here. Broke my heart to pieces, I kept trying to tell her that I don't think she's at any fault, it's the city for not clearing any snow except for cars (and to the detriment of everybody else). She kept insisting that it was dumb and her fault. Just this old woman in a moblity scooter absolutely fucking beaten down by it all to the point she thinks it's her fault when snow falls.
But no, gotta have the avalanche of metal being protected from even slight inconvenience. And for the weak or disadvantaged? Sorry, you can't go out anymore.
(Crossposted as suggested by a helpful user)
This is a good post. Within municipalities in capitalism the only people who get nice footwalks are the ones in their villas and mansions and such. Maybe a bit to trap tourists, but people who aren't needed in the employment market don't matter (except for votes in elections).
I think cities should care about walkability but even then I think you'd prioritize cars just because the differences in consequence. A lot of people won't deal with walking in snow and the downside is mostly that you are uncomfortable or slip, whereas in a car you can kill people.
A lot more people would deal with walking in the snow if they they cleared the pathways instead of further obstructing them with all the snow from the road, really. Just do the reverse, offload snow from walkways and cycle paths onto the road for impromptu speedbumps.