by Barry Rafkind in Announcements, Public Health & Safety - Posted on March 29, 2009 at 10:32 pm
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This past January, when my wife was 31 weeks pregnant with our baby, she slipped on an icy patch of sidewalk in Somerville, did a belly-flop, and ended up in the hospital with pre-term contractions as a result. A group of residents is organizing to advocate for more effective snow removal policies and stronger enforcement.
Fortunately, my wife’s early contractions subsided and she carried our healthy daughter to term. Our story is just one example of how poorly maintained sidewalks represent a danger to everyone. Especially the elderly, the disabled, the young, the injured, and pregnant women are challenged by snow and ice, but even otherwise strong and healthy adults are not immune to slips and falls.
Poorly-shoveled sidewalks divert pedestrians into the street where they are at risk of being hit by cars and bikes. In heavy snow, some mobility-challenged people avoid leaving their homes for fear of an accident. These are circumstances that no one should be faced with, but they occur every Winter in Somerville.
If you care about this issue, please join our email discussion Google group: Somerville Snow Removal. This group is born out of discussions at the last meeting of the Somerville Human Rights Commission.
[Update: Thanks for extra publicity about this article from Kat Powers at the Somerville Journal in She’s OK, but you need to clear the sidewalk and by Adam Gaffin at Universal Hub under Ice-free sidewalks as a basic human right.]
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hi every one i am tring to find a study on how much snow one person can remove in a certain time frame, along with breaks in between . can some one guid me . thank you
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No idea, john. I’d think it depends on many factors such as age, arm strength, and physical fitness. Why are you looking for that information?
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