If you’ve walked anywhere in town in the past week, you’ve likely found yourself pulling some impressive acrobatics—while simultaneously praying no one’s watching—as you do everything in your power to stay on your feet, avoiding a backbreaking fall.
At this time of year, as the snow and ice pile up on the sidewalks, even Jasper’s most graceful residents have replaced their flowing saunters with a cautious shuffle—walking flat footed with a lowered centre of gravity and slow, shortened steps. Alberta Health Services calls that the penguin shuffle and recommends it as a way of staying upright and avoiding a hip-crushing crash to the pavement. Other recommendations include trekking poles and boots with non-slip tread made from natural rubber.
But, beyond altering your cadence or buying new boots, there are other ways to ensure your own safety and the safety of fellow pedestrians during this treacherous time of year.
The key is to work together, with everyone in the community doing their part.
In our community, it is the responsibility of homeowners and business owners to clear the sidewalks in front of their buildings.
If each of them, along with the municipal snow removal crew, watches the forecast and works collaboratively, our roads and sidewalks wouldn’t feel like an obstacle course made for masochists.
At the best of times, even in the heat of summer, Jasper is an inaccessible community for residents with mobility issues, with most businesses requiring a step up to get in the door, but in the winter, that challenge is greatly increased. For Jasperites dependent on walkers, wheelchairs and motorized scooters, it’s no longer just a challenge getting into a business, it’s a challenge just getting to the door.
Imagine your walk to work today. Picture yourself doing your penguin shuffle, with your ice cleats strapped onto your boots and your arms out at your sides in an effort to increase your balance.
Now imagine making that same trip with an injury or a walker, wheelchair, motorized scooter, or even a stroller.
For most of us, depending where you live and where you work, that walk would be nearly impossible, with layers of undulating snow and ice covering sections of sidewalks and crosswalks along the way.
Now, we’re not denying that winter is a difficult time for travel, nor are we denying that there are challenges to keeping the roads and sidewalks clear.
We understand that there’s a shortage of equipment and that homeowners can’t leave work as soon as the snow flies, but we need to keep in mind that in Jasper there are residents with serious mobility issues and we owe it to them to do our best.
