Crews are continuing to clear snow off sidewalks, but for some it’s taking too long.
“I’ve fielded literally dozens of emails, dozens of phone calls, social media posts. What I hear is people feel unsafe,” said District 9 Councillor Shawn Cleary.
“Some of them are unsafe, falling down injuring themselves.”
READ MORE: Deep freeze, equipment breakdowns the cause of snow-clogged Halifax sidewalks
At the hospital, dozens are turning up with weather-related injuries.
“Whenever there’s a freeze after a wet period we get a lot more wrist injuries and ankle injuries … knee injuries, we do get people who come in with chest pain from snow shoveling,” said Chief emergency physician Dr. Sam Campbell.
Just over a year ago the city adopted the integrated mobility plan to help make the municipality more accessible and reprioritize users of the road by putting people first.
“Unfortunately we haven’t actually adopted any new policies or programs that put people first,” said Cleary.
When it comes to removing snow from streets and sidewalks there are standards. Both streets and sidewalks are broken down into priority zones.
READ MORE: Calling a snow day: How Halifax schools make the early morning call
For sidewalk priority, one sidewalk should be cleared within 12 hours of the end of the weather event. Priority two sidewalks have 18 hours and priority three have 36 hours.
Those hours can change though, given a significant weather event like Halifax experienced this week.
But Cleary says he wants to see those standards shortened. He even proposed a motion earlier this year to do that, but council voted against it.
“If we can get out there hour, six, eight hours after the snow event has started we can clear it all away while it’s still soft, as soon as it becomes the concrete that it is now, it’s next to impossible and much more expensive to clear,” he said.
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