We've lived in the same neighborhood since October of
1993 and I usually walk to and from work using an ordinary white
long cane. When properly used, this protects against just about
anything except low-hanging tree branches and, as Gordon Keen so
aptly described it, once, things hanging out of the top of truck
beds.
In my case, there are sometimes low branches, but not
enough to be a problem. What was getting to be a problem was
parked cars. As some of the houses in our neighborhood have
changed from owner-occupied to rental houses, each occupant
usually has his or her own car and they mostly end up end to end
along both sides of the street. I call it a double row of
rusting iron with a little track of pavement down the middle
where pedestrians, cars and the occasional bicycle compete for
space.
Well, after many complaints to the city counsel about
all the parked hulks and the fact that emergency vehicles might
not be able to get down the street, the word has come down from
on high that parking is now restricted to only one side of the
street.
I am sure some people hate it, but I feel like I've died
and gone to Heaven when I walk to and from work, now.
On our street, the parking is now on the South side only
so I can just walk at a normal pace on the North side and not
have to constantly weave in and out of a forest of spiky metal
such as trailer hitches, side mirrors and the occasional very
wide tire.
Canes do certainly find parked cars, but they tend to go
under them so you may not notice until you smack your hand on to
a bumper or the hood of a car.
To be honest, I was not one of the people complaining
because I knew several who were so I waited to see how things
would turn out. The new system has probably shaved a minute or
two off the time to walk and it is so nice to not have to
constantly zig-zag.
In the US, the general rule is that pedestrians walk
facing on-coming traffic so we walk on the left. In a case like
this, you end up walking with the traffic depending on which
direction you are going, but it is not a very busy street so one
just needs to be careful and make sure nobody is running up
behind you.
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