The person in question was hopefully wearing an approved helmet. If not, why not?

Probably because there is no law.

I see these motorized wheelchairs all over, many driving on the sides of traffic lanes. I can’t really blame them, because our sidewalks are broken and slanted in most areas. However, this causes a very dangerous situation, when all it takes is a driver not paying attention.

Legally, chairs fall into a funny category. They are considered pedestrians and as such, must use the same rules as pedestrians when crossing roads and using sidewalks. However, where the sidewalks are inaccessible (due to potholes or lack of curb cuts) they can use the roads. They are supposed to be on the left, working against traffic, same as pedestrians.

I hope this person isn’t too traumatized by this incident. Please, all drivers (and all road users) need to be aware of the diversity of people who are legally allowed to access our roads and the different rules that govern each group. Let’s try to minimize future accidents. Please?

In my experience the motorized chairs do at least have flags that make them visible, unlike all too many of the pedestrians and bicycles that I encounter.

Looked to me like the cars parked in front of shooters were too close to the exit which greatly reduces visibility. Not sure who hit who as it looked like the car coming out of shooters might of been inching his way out and was hit by the wheel chair. Either way it took the cars bumper off like it was pulled off from one side.

When I lived in Vancouver (about a thousand years ago) the law was no parking within twenty feet of a Stop sign and a number of feet from the entrance to a driveway. More revenue for the fuzz and more dough for city hall. Get with the tickets, coppers.

“I can’t really blame them, because our sidewalks are broken and slanted in most areas.”

The 31 year old one and only sidewalk in our neighbourhood is virtually useless because it is too slanted, too narrow, too broken up and without curb cuts except for two or three. It also has a power pole right in the middle of it (!) – a picture of which can be seen on Flickr.

Since a new PAC has top priority at City Hall this sorry excuse for a sidewalk will still look the same (or worse) another 31 years from now. Sidewalks are not considered to be an important asset to our supposedly civilized city, judging by the lack maintenance and extreme rarety of them.

They lack the glamour factor that politicians crave, the photo op and the joyful beaming smiles ribbon cutting ceremony!

In the wintertime it gets ‘cleaned’ once a week after a heavy snowfall and the sand that is used for sanding it consists of the occasional one here – one there – pebbles larger than marbles!

wow … and here I thought it was up to the people in the houses to clear the side walk in front of their house …. I guess not … I guess I will stop mowing the first 3 feet of my lawn too since thats city property…. Sorry I find it funny when people bitch about snow clearing ….

The side walk always gets done in front of my place … because I live on a bus route near a school … but I always plow the walk infront of my place long before the tracktor comes down the sidewalk …

bowsone_mikey, thank you for clearing the sidewalk in front of your place. I don’t when it started that people left it up to the city to clear sidewalks, even a lot of the stores downtown do. I walk on one sidewalk and a few people clear in front of their houses, they are older and have lived in the area for a long time. Once again I say THANK YOU!

“wow … and here I thought it was up to the people in the houses to clear the side walk in front of their house ….”

You must be kidding! Keep 200 feet of steeply slanted sidewalk clear of snow? The city has the proper equipment to keep it in a safe condition – not my fault if it is unsafe!