Emma Cornwell: Northampton sidewalks need repairs

Published: 05-25-2017 7:49 PM

Northampton sidewalks need repairs

On May 21 I was hit by a car on Hawley Street in Northampton. Thankfully, I did not sustain bodily injuries, but my wheelchair took a beating.

This happened, in part, because in a lot of areas of Northampton I am forced to use the street as opposed to the sidewalk because the sidewalks are uneven, crumbling, and full of ruts that my wheelchair gets caught on. At best that causes me to suddenly halt and lurch forward in my chair, and at worst causes me to be ejected onto the street causing an embarrassing scene and scraped elbows and knees (I would say this happens twice a month).

I was hit by a car in one of these places, where I was trying to avoid a crack in the sidewalk by going around it via the street. I’d really like to bring attention to the fact that the sidewalks (or lack thereof) are very dangerous in Northampton for everyone, but especially folks using assistive devices to get around.

It’s frankly appalling for a city as “progressive” and wealthy as Northampton to have such terrible pedestrian walkways. People can (and are) getting seriously hurt and it’s not right.

Emma Cornwell

Northampton

]]>