My five-year-old son fell off his bike last week. A child falling off their bike is not unusual, but I want to stress upon you why he fell. He was riding his bike up the hill on Beach Drive towards Hibbens Close, where we live (a route we ride almost daily to and from St. Christopher’s Montessori School).
He rides his bike on the sidewalk, because he’s five. Unfortunately, the sidewalk abruptly ends on a blind corner. There is no crosswalk, there isn’t even a graduated curb. The sidewalk turns down a steep hill and stops. He fell trying to get off the sidewalk over the non-graduated curb, directly into oncoming traffic on Cadboro Bay Road.
Fortunately the oncoming traffic stopped (as did my heart). If the oncoming traffic had not stopped, I would be sending you an entirely different type of letter, and one I hope never to have to write.
The lack of sidewalks, crosswalks and graduated curbs to access what sidewalks do exist at this intersection is a problem. Mothers are forced to push baby carriages down the busy street of Cadboro Bay Road (myself included). If you go there, you will see this on a daily basis. That is not safe.
Children and adults alike in wheelchairs and kids on bikes and scooters are forced onto Cadboro Bay Road, because the lack of graduated curbs make the sidewalks inaccessible to those with disabilities or training wheels. We can do better as a community. Please work together to make our communities safe for everyone.
Dixie Klaibert
Saanich