The State of Georgia is notorious (at least
among its citizens) for a lack of common sense in public transportation. But before tackling big issues like its
constant deadly traffic, its horrendously inefficient but expensive public
transit system or its lack of bike lanes, let’s talk about how ill-equipped it
is for the most basic forms of traffic – foot and wheelchair traffic.
Outside of the Atlanta area, or outside of
what Georgia calls “the perimeter,” there are dozens, even hundreds of
heavy-traffic areas (car and pedestrian traffic alike) with absolutely no
sidewalks. Civilians on foot and in
wheelchairs are forced to walk or try to roll across rocky ground, or walk or
roll in the street with cars passing by at speeds of 45 to 60 miles per hour
right next to them.
What’s wrong with walking on nothing but a
dirt path, you might ask? Well, not only
does that leave disabled individuals stranded in their homes and without the
independence to so much as go down the street for some milk without having to
rely on a car or someone with a car, but oftentimes, as shown in the video, so
little consideration is given to pedestrians that bushes, mailboxes, fences and
other obstacles are put in the only available pathway, forcing those
pedestrians to walk in ditches or in the road to get around them.
This is the very first level of the calamity
that is Georgia public transportation. The
choking traffic that cripples the city and the surrounding area every day isn’t
much of a surprise when you think of all the people who have to invest in
buying cars just to make it safely to the nearest bus stop.
