Elderly are ‘risking lives’ to avoid poor pavements
CAMPAIGNERS say elderly and disabled people are risking their lives due to the state of their local pavements.
Charity East Renfrewshire Good Causes have made an appeal to improve the safety of the area’s pavements and have warned locals could be injured or worse if the problem is not addressed.
It comes after the Evening Times highlighted several streets in Glasgow where motorists were parking on pavements to avoid double yellow fines, causing wheelchair-bound residents and parents with pushchairs to walk out onto the road to avoid them.
Russell McMillan, founder of East Renfrewshire Good Causes said the camber of the walkways, and the state of the streets in some cases, means people with mobility scooters and walking frames are choosing to go onto the road.
He decided to launch the campaign when he noticed residents from sheltered housing complexes in Newton Mearns struggling on the pavements.
He said: “With an increasingly ageing local population, it is essential that our pavements and kerbs, which allow basic daily tasks like going to the shops, take account of difficulties faced by the elderly, parents with prams and mobility-impaired disabled people.
“For the elderly, both uneven pavements and the camber on them can be a real disincentive, and can lead to many using the roads instead, which poses a real potential danger.”
Russell said he sees older people walking on the road on a daily basis.
He added: “I kept seeing people on the motorised buggies, on their stroller. My own father who is 90 walks with a stroller... I noticed many of his friends and him walk on the road instead of the pavement. Sooner or later a car is going to come round the corner and knock somebody down.
“We will end up with more and more elderly people in hospital. We are encouraged to have elderly people living at home and independently so we need to make it safe for them to do so.”
Newton Mearns Labour Councillor Ian McAlpine said: “When you walk the route with a stroller, you quickly realise the obstacles that our mobility-impaired local residents face, when carrying out such a basic daily task like going shopping.
“In my role as councillor for Newton Mearns South, I am delighted to spearhead this latest appeal to improve access for my constituents, which will raise the local standard.”
A spokesman from East Renfrewshire council said: “We are already in dialogue with the group.
“One of the key areas they have highlighted to us is a need for more dropped kerbs.
““With reduced budgets in light of long term cuts to local authority funding we have to prioritise spending on frontline services.
“Despite these pressures we have committed £3.1million to make improvements to our roads and footways during 2016.”