Cairns Bicycle User Group
WHEELCHAIRS
Just as our population is growing, so too is the age of our citizens. The percentage of people aged over 60 years is increasing. Add to this group the number of younger people with disabilities and we have a sizeable group of people in our communities who need to get through and around their towns and cities. But our transport facilities are basically designed for active and agile people. Where there is action from the the community, specialised services have been provided, wheelchairs on taxis and buses, bicycles on buses, signalised pedestrian crossings, pedestrian ramps etc. Even services are increasingly being provided without public action and this is good.
But there are times when the going gets tough. Roads and paths are the means by which people can transport themselves wherever they wish to go. Travel in a car is usually no problem except when there is traffic congestion. But generally access is not a problem. However try transporting yourself in a wheelchair and the scenario dramatically changes. Access then becomes a challenge. The roads, paths, gutter crossings, railway crossings, steps with no ramps, traffic calming devices etc do not provide safe, efficient space for wheelchairs and tricycles. Even though people
driving wheelchairs are pedestrians, there are some wheelchairs today that are
capable of being driven on the road and a path.
So what does a person do if there is no space on the road such as a road shoulder or a bike lane and also there is no sealed foot path. These people drive their wheelchairs in the traffic lane. Is it dangerous? Yes! But they do it just the same. Is driving a car or riding a bicycle dangerous? Yes! But we do it just the same. Life is full of risks and as one person said which I have never forgotten was, "Perhaps I should not have got out of bed this morning". We are going to get out of bed, if we can, and take risks because life would not be worth living if we didn't.
How do we minimalise the risks? When confronted with a brick wall (lack of safe facility), is there an alternate route? Is it too much out of our way? etc. If we must travel on a route that is less than desirable, what can we do to improve the situation. Informing our transport providers and political representatives is the way to get action hopefully. They should respond positively because we have the "Disability Act" that is supposed to protect people. The problem is that funding is used as the main excuse to argue, delay or refuse action.
This is why this web page is included on our web site. To encourage our transport providers to pay particular attention to providing infrastructure for people with disabilities, pedestrians and cyclists. With increasing population and motor traffic, our funding resources are being swallowed up by the ever increasing construction and maintenance of more and more traffic lanes. A larger slice of the budget is needed to give people more transport choices, such as cycling, walking and using disability transport aids (wheelchairs, adult tricycles, walking frames).
Please send your comments to this page to create a forum for discussion about these very important issues.
Contacts:
Cerebral Palsy ABC - Tricycles