I don't think you understand the concept here:

[mariness]

Dear government official:

When I call you to complain that the road repairs on State Road 50 have made the State Road 50 and S Park intersection unsafe for wheelchair users, pedestrians and bicyclists, and has already resulted in injuries, the proper response is not, "I guess you'll just have to drive for awhile."

:: head thunk ::

Comments

[rosebee]

That's SO the wrong answer!

Have you thought about going up the chain, and reporting the unsafe intersection & the other government official's response to your state representative?

[mariness]

Already done. I got similar responses from them, as well.

[rosebee]

That's really unfortunate. :(

[amadi]

Next step, elected officials. Also maybe contact the local AARP? I saw what state you're in, the old folks have a lot of juice there.

[mariness]

Right - the up the chain that I called were the elected officials, who were not exactly helpful, but, well, this is Florida, where I expect and receive incompetence from elected officials. It's what, as a state, we're good at. Apparently, however, an attorney involved in one of the injuries has already contacted them, and they are getting hell from the local city hall, so that's a plus. I'm hardly the only wheelchair user/trike user in the area, so I expect they'll hear or are already hearing from others. And the intersection is also hellish for drivers at the moment since they can't see oncoming traffic, so, again, more incentive.

[amadi]

Oh geez. Fail, Florida, fail.

Are you the person who uses an electric tricycle? I seem to recall a similar fail mentioned by you previously, or am I confused?

[mariness]

I honestly can't remember if I've talked about sidewalk fails or not, but yes, I do use an electric trike. I love it.

What I love a little less is that I really only have one grocery store in the range of the trike - and it's on the other side of this intersection. There's also a Target, but it, too, is on the other side of this intersection.

[amadi]

I sort of recall reading about your trike of awesomeness before. I remember thinking "I wanna get me one of those."

[marianas]

Well, that's a dick move

[jesse_the_k]

Rong^3!

[codeman38]

Wow. I've known from personal experience that people tend to assume that everyone is able to drive, but I wouldn't have expected that from a government official! -_-;;

Then again, that would potentially explain why so many roads here are designed in a way that's flat-out hostile to pedestrians...