By: Richard Stradling, Raleigh News and Observer
Dick Hatch and Jennifer Woody (NC Falls Prevention Coalition) check Raleigh’s sidewalk “walkability.”
When Dick Hatch navigated his walker down the Oberlin Baptist Church driveway onto the city sidewalk Thursday morning, it didn’t take him long to find trouble.
The sidewalk was narrow, cracked and partially blocked by a flowering bush growing around the base of a utility pole.
“It was pretty broken up,” said Hatch, 82. “But the real big problem is this bush.”
As Hatch spoke, a small group of senior citizens and people who work with them took notes about the sidewalk, a nearby crosswalk and the traffic whizzing by on Oberlin Road.
They were doing an audit of walking conditions on some of the streets near Cameron Village, with the aim of highlighting the challenges facing pedestrians, particularly senior citizens and the disabled. The audit was organized by members of the N.C. Falls Prevention Coalition, which works to minimize a common source of injury among the elderly.
Falls among seniors result in more than 40,000 emergency room visits a year in North Carolina and more than 600 deaths, according to the N.C. Division of Public Health.
The coalition could have found problems in just about any neighborhood in the city, but chose this one at the urging of a city advisory group. They were looking for problems such as cracks, bumps and pits in the pavement, poorly marked crossings and sidewalks that abruptly end.
The group seemed pleased with the wheelchair ramps at Oberlin and Smallwood Drive in front of a Harris Teeter. But the button to activate the crossing lights was a good 10 yards from the crosswalk – far enough that a slow walker might have trouble getting across in time.
The volunteers used survey forms provided by AARP and planned to compile their results and share them with the city. They had a head start as a pedestrian and bicycle planner for the city, Jennifer Baldwin, took part in Thursday’s walkabout and took notes of her own.
Hatch, a lawyer who lives in Cary, led the way, gamely pushing his walker down Oberlin Road as the others followed. He said he was happy to be out there.
“I’m interested in anything that could make life easier for people like me,” he said.