Nowhere To Go

Ilandra

It was a lovely warm, sunny day, so I decided I would go out on my mobility scooter, just to see how far I could travel before turning for home.  There were the pathways to cope with, and I'm getting better at dodging the tree roots and potholes. I reached a point where a large railway bridge crosses the road, so I took the pathway round the back, to reach the point where I could continue my journey.  I was confronted by a small pathway, barely wide enough for a very thin pedestrian.  There was nothing for it, I had to bite the bullet and make a dash, a short distance, on the very busy watling street, where vehicles travel at what seems like 500 mph. I'm sure my hair turned a whiter shade of grey in those few short minutes..  Safe at last, I continued down the road until, glancing across, I saw Aldi's store.  After going backwards and forwards to find a dropped kerb, I realised that even if there was one, there was no island in the middle for me to cross to on this extremely busy road, so gave up on that idea. I negotiated the rest of my journey with no other mishaps, and finally arrived home after my 9 mile journey, feeling slightly fraught.  I have made light of my journey I know, but the main point of this missive, is to highlight the problems that face mobility scooter users, and the fact that the able bodied would not have noticed any of these problems, quite sad really.  Has anyone else experienced problems like this?

Ross_Alumni

Hello @Ilandra

Thanks for sharing the details of your journey, and I'm sorry to hear that the route wasn't fully accessible. As you say, it highlights the challenges faced by many people and shows that improvement is needed. Have you considered contacting your local council about the challenges you faced, just to raise the issue with them and hopefully put it on their agenda?

Ilandra

Good idea Ross, but I am afraid that any mention of work needed, would fall on deaf ears, unless it is absolutely essential. 

Ross_Alumni

You may well be right there @Ilandra, but there's no harm in making them aware just in case others have done the same. If more people speak up about the issues then there's more chance of change happening. I acknowledge your hesitation though, I'm unsure if they would see it as essential.