When there is no sidewalk where do you drive your powerchair?  

oh that is so stupid!
How is the man supposed to go somewhere if he cant go in the street and there is no sidewalk?
and how in the hell was he driving a powerchair recklessly?
If I were that man I would be furiously frustrated with the system
what is the diference between him and his powerchair and say someone on a bicycle?

If I were that person I would get in touch with charities and organisations that deal with these sort of problems, i.e. people in wheel chairs/with disabilities. Peronally, I think this is totally unacceptable behaviour from a Court. I can only assume that there was another way to get from A to B but he decided to pick this one, that didn't have any sidewalk. And as you say yes, he would'nt exactly be zooming by but then people going more slowly than expected can cause accidents too! I think an elderly couple got done for going about 20 mph on the motorway!

However, I am with you with this one. If there are no sidewalks then where the heck is he supposed to go. To me this is a form of discrimination and needs to be dealt with.

Thanks for sharing this with us Mooch.

If he is fined and told not to drive his power chair on the streets any longer then he needs to tell the city to put in sidewalks. My daughter lives in a small town here in Texas and there are no sidewalks in most of the residential parts of town and when there visiting I have seen people on their power chairs and even seen one or two on riding lawnmowers and one on a three wheeler.

If the street is a busy street I can see having to stay off the street, but most busy streets have sidewalks! This is truly discrimination against people in wheelchairs, because they are considered ambulatory when they are in wheelchairs, so they would be like pedestrians. Where I used to work we had a disabled guy in a motorized wheel chair and he went all over the streets in his wheelchair, and not just on hospital and nursing home grounds. He went up the streets and visited with people and returned when he felt like it... no cop ever gave him a ticket.. I think that is just wrong.

I would be furious. I would contact a lawyer and sue the pants off of the city. I would call the News channels, the congressmen, state officials, the disability coalition, disability advocates. I would demand that the city put in sidewalks. It is discrimination. This just infuriates me, maybe because my son is in a powerchair, but they have no right to tell him that he cannot be on the road. They may be able to demand he has slow moving sign and a light, but I really don't think they can prevent him from going places.

that's a good question.a lot of towns near me and my own have little to no sidewalks-i've seen a guy one street over who has to ride in the street because of it.
they made him put lights on it and a flag so he can be seen,but it's still dangerous to him.i really don't know what you could do-i guess sue the city for no access to the roads?
it's not fair to them anyway.

It is pretty daft really when you think about it, I do not mind them being on the pavements as long as they are considerate. But where I live, we seem to have a good percentage of people in them and I am sorry but they are so ignorant and rude and they assume that they have the right of way because they are in one. My children have nearly been run over by them quite a few times and they have no manners at all.

That is so ridiculous! I live in Texas and there are absolutely hardly any sidewalks in small rural towns. When I lived in West Texas, there was always 2 men in powered wheelchairs going down the road.

Sadly, one night an elderly man was on his wheelchair and got run over by a reckless driver. Now that is something we should be changing. We can start by putting some decent walkways for pedestrians!!

I have a power chair and there are times that I have no choice but to drive in the streets. Some of the sidewalks have cement sections that are separating and have been raised because of tree roots. Even though there may be curbs that are flattened to allow easy access to the sidewalk, they are just steep enough that it almost makes you feel like you are going to tip over.

Unless the city councils are made aware of the problems in any of the cities it will always be a problem to those in a power chair. If they are made aware of it then you get into the problem of passing the buck. Is it a city sidewalk? Is it out front of a private residence? Is there enough money to include in the budget for repairs? It's a vicious and dangerous cycle for us power charians.

DCMerkle

well i have a power chair myself and i have always drove my chair on the side of the road cuz the sidewalks are too bumpy cops drive by me all the time and never stopped me yet thank god they dont mind as long as i dont drive in the middle of the road and that is dumb that they did that to him