Tripping hazards on sidewalks are no joke
Even if a hole in the sidewalk is marked, a reader asks, ‘what if you aren’t looking down?’
Anyone who thinks a tripping hazard in a high-traffic pedestrian area is no big deal should tell it to the people injured by them. Our Monday column was about the stub of a bollard left in the sidewalk on the south side of Bremner Blvd., across from the Rogers Centre, after it was removed. A 75-year-old woman tripped over it and fell to the pavement, suffering scrapes and bruises.
In it, we quoted a reader who said he “had a good laugh” after reading a column in March about a tripping hazard, adding that we should find more important things to write about.
We also got an email from Erin Greenaway, who said she had just read our Monday column “and was shocked to see the sawed-off bollard that I also tripped over last Monday.
“I was going to the (Ripley’s) aquarium with my husband and son and tripped on this, which caused a fracture in my arm. I’m now in a full cast for six to eight weeks,” she said, noting that “it’s in a really dangerous place.”
The same could be said about a square hole carved into the sidewalk next to a subway ventilation grate on the west side of Yonge St., just north of King St.
Blaine Adams of Burlington sent us a note saying he “was walking along Yonge, just north of King, in front of Starbucks, talking to my friend, when I stepped into the hole and fell flat on my face.
“Glasses broken, nose cut, finger twisted. Someone had outlined the danger with orange paint, but what if you aren’t looking down as you walk?”
Adams sent along photos of a gash in the side of his nose, another gash, a battered fingernail on his pinky finger and a pair of broken glasses.
He also asked a good question: “How many others have suffered my fate?”
We checked out the hole on Yonge, which was indeed outlined in orange paint. But anyone familiar with the area knows it can be jam-packed with pedestrians, making it hard to see a hazard, especially if you aren’t looking down. STATUS: We sent a note about it to Tom Kalogiannis, area manager of road operations, who said he'd send out someone right away to fill in the hole.