Curb cuts, in the USA, are a relatively recent addition and they benefit far more people than just wheelchair riders. Accessibility features can help everyone.
This is mostly a good thing. I say "mostly" because it encourages scooter riders to use the sidewalk and pretty much anywhere I've been scooter-share riders are a public menace.
One issue with these in NYC at least is the drainage just isn't designed for them. So anytime you get significant rain or snow melt you get pools of water that don't drain because the actual drains are elsewhere.
If only the US could adopt Dutch junction design [1].
And don't get me started on the cyclist and pedestrian safety nightmare that is allowing people to turn right at red lights.
Funny how sidewalks are usually mentioned in terms of mobile people. Every economically disadvantaged wheelchair-bound person I have ever seen has not used the sidewalk. They use the road. It's much less likely to have huge broken up chunks and obstructions, and it's less problematic to have to haul yourself up the incline or potentially crash down the decline.
I wish we could somehow force everyone to live as somebody else for a week.
> It's much less likely to have huge broken up chunks and obstructions, and it's less problematic to have to haul yourself up the incline or potentially crash down the decline.
It's also much more dangerous. Making the sidewalks useable for wheelchair users is much better for everyone than forcing them to go on the road.
It's also possibly not possible? I used to have a neighbor who used the road. I don't know that they really had any other choice. There were plenty of people on the block who also knew they had a neighbor who used a wheelchair, but that didn't prevent them from blocking the sidewalk with their cars, or setting up their lawn sprinklers to ensure that the sidewalk was really well watered, or allowing their bushes to grow across the sidewalk, or leaving their sidewalks unshoveled for days on end.
Government can do a lot of things, but I don't think it can force people to be conscientious.
Right. But that’s a problem that can be solved by law and enforcement. It’s not a law of nature. Just fine people who leave their cars where they don’t belong and otherwise obstruct public ways. That’s what I meant by “making them useable for wheelchairs”.
It also has the benefit of making them more useable for other people.
Those fines would need to be ruinous to justify the cost of collecting them, and you would still have people needing to block walkways for e.g. construction work.
"I wish we could somehow force everyone to live as somebody else for a week."
I often wished this simple request whenever I was lumbered with a non-technical manager who would promise things to their equally-out-of-touch manager or a customer, eg. "I've told them it will be done in 2 weeks. How long will it take?"
It'd reduce the pain of everyone to live with more empathy.
Curb cuts, in the USA, are a relatively recent addition and they benefit far more people than just wheelchair riders. Accessibility features can help everyone.