INCONSISTENCIES in the size and structure of sidewalks across Kingston, in areas where they do exist, have been tripping up disabled Jamaicans, many of whom have suffered severe injuries.

Ideally, the walkways are supposed to be eight feet wide for major roads, but certainly no less than five feet, said the National Works Agency.

But right across the capital, few sidewalks measure up.

A Sunday Observer reconnaisance of the city found that some were overgrown with grass and weeds; and many were in disrepair and dangerous.

Some are constructed with sudden drops as high as 12 inches, and in a few areas, there are exposed manholes.

In fact, the walkways are usually blocked by roadside sellers, utility poles, pedal cyclists, and even motor vehicles, forcing pedestrians, abled and disabled, onto the streets.

“A blind gentleman damaged his testicles after falling in an open manhole,” said Teresa Grant of the Combined Disabilities Association (CDA), describing as “frightening” the obstacles the physically challenged face on a daily basis.

In the particular instance, the man suffered serious injuries, she said.

“Our members are competing with vehicles that are parked on sidewalks,” said Gloria Goffe, CDA administrator.

“Then you have the vendors with their wares on the sidewalks and no body moves them, so people have nowhere to walk, except in the road.”

She said the blind were confronted with a particular problem – illegally erected signage on lightposts.

“They are placed low, and in several instances people walk straight into them injuring themselves in the face,” said Goffe.

The blind use their canes to guide their feet. The device, said Goffe, cannot detect ill-placed signs above the ground.

The NWA, which has responsibility for the major roads, said sidewalk size is often not necessarily the issue – despite the obvious inconsistencies in construction standard city-wide – but moreso enforcement of the law.

“Vehicles, vendors and other obstacles on sidewalks which should not be there are breaches which should be enforced by the agencies responsible, including the police,” said Colin Morrison, NWA senior communication officer.

He said the police are responsible for removing illegally parked vehicles, but bemoaned the fact that it was not being done. “We have seen vehicles illegally parked and the police are a stone’s throw for the infringement and they do nothing,” he said.

An apparent deterrent to parking on sidewalks was a decision to increase the height of sidewalks, which have created sudden ‘drops’ and ‘climbs’ on some roads.

However, that plan has apparently backfired, as motorists with four-wheel drive vehicles continue to mount the highest of sidewalks.

Goffe said the CDA has raised with the NWA, the issue of the drops and climbs, saying they were impeding the disabled.

One explanation given by the agency, she said, was that some of the sudden rises were an attempt to channel water into drains.

Kingston mayor Desmond McKenzie has been one of the most vocal advocates for the removal of sidewalk, but even the fiery mayor has had little effect on bringing order to areas zoned for walking.

His campaign to remove vehicles and prosecute the owners has been controversial, but has reaped successes, especially in New Kingston, which has some of the best, and well-kept sidewalks.

McKenzie said the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) has settled claims by individuals who have been injured on sidewalks in the city, some of whom have fallen into open manholes.

The police say some of the manhole covers have been stolen by drug addicts who sell them to scrap metal shops in the city.

But the number of agencies with varying degree of responsibility for sidewalk infringements are confusing some individuals who have suffered injuries and are seeking compensation.

Angella Watson suffered a broken leg when she fell in an open manhole at a shopping plaza uptown Kingston in February.

Watson wrote to the KSAC seeking compensation, but officials say she is unlikely to receive any via that route as the KSAC is not responsible for plazas.

She will have to seek compensation from the plaza owners, when she finds out who they are.

Even at the entrance to the CDA offices on Ripon Road, said Grant, staff struggle for space on the tiny sidewalk.

Aside from the obvious dangers of moving vehicles, the streets also pose another peculiar danger.

“The lightposts are one thing, but the NWC, when they dig up the road that is another problem all together,” said Grant, speaking of the state provider of water, National Water Commission.

“Its almost as if they are saying to blind people, stay home and don’t come out.”

The disabled also have to grapple with trees that hang over on sidewalk space, as ‘bushing’ which is the responsibility of different agencies and the owners of premises, often remains undone.

virtuee@jamaicaobserver.com