That's a pedestrian detour?

[bhskittykatt]

I drove by this twice the other day. I wish I could have taken a photo.

There was some light utility work or something going on, and the workers had their vehicles parked on the sidewalk, since this is a busy street with no shoulder. Helpfully, they stuck up "Pedestrian Detour" signs on either side of their worksite, pointing away from the road. Unhelpfully, where they did point wasn't exactly the most walkable.

From what I could tell, this is what a pedestrian following this "detour" was expected to do.

- Scale a 3ft high retaining wall.
- Climb up a rather steep, grassy, slope (which would be slick thanks to the rain)
- Walk down the other side of the steep slope into a DEEP, WIDE ditch overgrown on both sides with salmonberry bushes and blackberry vines, and filled with at least half a foot of water.
- Somehow cross the ditch, walk out and back up, cross another lawn, and get back to the sidewalk.

Fortunately, it looked like it was a short job, and this wasn't a pedestrian-heavy area, but still...if you're going to set up a detour, set one up right! (In this case, set it up down at the closest crosswalks to detour them to the sidewalk across the street.)

[telecom_goddess]

ahh it's just pedestrians, not the almighty driver of a vehicle so who cares

[sms001]

Hopefully common sense prevailed and others went back to the last crosswalk too. I probably would have used the street, the detour sounds like an adventure.

...not the almighty driver of a vehicle ....

We (bicyclists) call 'em "cagers."

[bhskittykatt]

Hopefully common sense prevailed and others went back to the last crosswalk too. I probably would have used the street, the detour sounds like an adventure.

Trust me, you would nave NOT wanted to use the street where I saw this. Cars going too fast, and no shoulder between the lanes and the sidewalk. The crosswalks were a ways back in either direction, but would have been the sane thing. The detour...with good boots and a machete to hack through the brush, you could do it...

[wolfie]

ahh it's just pedestrians, not the almighty driver of a vehicle so who cares

We (bicyclists) call 'em "cagers."

And we call 'em "four-wheelers". They're not so almighty (even the ones in the full-size SUVs) when they find out the hard way when a 3 ton Suburban that tries to muscle a 40 ton loaded semi out of the way gets the short end of the stick.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

ahh it's just pedestrians, not the almighty driver of a vehicle so who cares

It's not just pedestrians using sidewalks in my area now . . . we see a number of folks in motorized wheelchairs using them as well.

Which you can thank my Mother for starting the trend. Since she got her first one 5 years ago (her new one should be ready any time now - just waiting for the phone call) the number of people we see with those motorized chairs on our side of town has increased quite a bit. We have at least 2 others in our neighborhood alone that are out and about using theirs.

They just need to learn to use the sidewalks instead of the roadway itself (which is an entirely different rant on its own.)

[telecom_goddess]

hmmm hadn't thought about people in those motorized carts/wheelchair type things. I see those around sometimes but not often.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

hmmm hadn't thought about people in those motorized carts/wheelchair type things. I see those around sometimes but not often.

I guess it varies on the area but around here we've been seeing quite a few people using them.

Speaking of which, I haven't seen the guy who rides with his girlfriend in his lap (and she's holding an umbrella) lately. Wonder if they're okay . . .