The aftermath…

According to my sister, the council sounded rather nervous when they first heard about my accident. And rightly so. Deep down, they must know that the speed humps were a mistake and any lawsuit brought against them would surely conclude the blame lied with them. The day after the fall, I had my yearly check-up at Stanmore so would be able to find out if I had broke my rod. Luckily, the X-Ray was good and I didn’t sustain any injuries.

Obviously, I was relieved but the council were even more so. It was a ‘get out of jail free card’ because since getting the all clear that I wasn’t physically hurt, they’ve been pretty relaxed over the matter. It has affected me mentally though which sounds scary but I just mean I’m having panic attacks when I go out that a similar thing will happen and this time, I might not be so lucky. Although they met with my family, it appeared to be a tick-box exercise where I explained everything that happened just so they could write an accident report for health and safety regulations. But that clearly didn’t matter a few months ago when they installed the ‘waves’.

Our argument was fobbed off with a cheap, easy solution that they thought would shut us up: an A4 sign (laminated so weather-proof) warning wheelchair users of the speed humps. This shows to me that they are just covering themselves and don’t care about disabled people. They’ve already made this point clear by getting the go-ahead from a local disability group on the basis of plans. Anyone can say yes to a drawing but the planners should’ve really made a mock ramp for testing instead of using a group to make it look like they had consulted the relevant people.

The speed humps are there to stay, after millions of pounds has been wasted on the ‘project’. It’s not just from a wheelchair POV but the whole thing is ridiculous. Firstly, cyclists go faster as they see the humps as a bit of an assault course. Secondly, no one keeps to the correct sections- cyclists use the pedestrian side and vice versa. As I suggested, the council are ignorant and will probably dismiss my simple solution. All I said was move the benches back, put down some tarmac and the wheelchairs can therefore by-pass the restrictors.

Simple but I sense they’ll make excuses. One thing is for certain, my family and I will not let this lie. Don’t you worry about that.

Bye for now!