I didn't use my chest strap, except in my van, for many years. On one particular occasion I was daydreaming as I crossed a wooden bridge and then it donned on me that I was going out into a busy sidewalk. So I sidled over to the left and accidentally hooked my left rear tire on the corner of the bridge. Since I was driving a Peachtree, it naturally through me to the left and I ended up barely off the sidewalk with my face all the way down at my knees and my rear wheels spinning hopelessly in the air. Thankfully it was a busy road and some wonderful gentleman who ride around in a golf cart doing work for the community came by and helped me out. What's truly sad is for 20 minutes cars drove by and did nothing.
Thank goodness my image care at a bar that protected the actuator on the bottom of the wheelchair. That particular thing hooked a segment of the sidewalk as I was heading toward the ditch that I ended up dangling over. Then again there's that time I went off the sidewalk on the side of my house. I kept thinking I could get back up on the sidewalk in all I succeeded in doing was sliding further down the incline until I was wedged up against my neighbors wouldn't fence. Some of my neighbors came by about 20 minutes later and after getting more help from more neighbors, they were able to pull me out. Thankfully I was in the shade. That would've been a whole different story if I would've ended up in the sun down here in the middle of summer. It's 80° today and that's not even bad. Quadius PS I live in the Tampa area. On Wed, Apr 28, 2010 at 10:05 AM, greg <g...@eskimo.com> wrote: > The other day I mentioned that I never go out by myself without my chest > strap on, or without my phone. That night I took my dog for a quick pee > check before bed. My chair is in the shop, so I'm in my backup. It has no > chest strap. Usually when I go out alone, I put a strap around my headrest > and my head and one arm. Since I was just going around the block... I > didn't... nor did I take my phone. > I'm part way around and my dog pees, so I turn around because it's shorter. > My rear wheel slips off the sidewalk into the gravel and is stuck just a > bit. My error was I was sitting with my back to far upright. So when my > chair jerks when it gets unstuck, I start to fall/tip forward. I've done > this before and my reflex is to gun the chair forward to help me sit back. I > stop myself / the chair, before I get to the edge, the the fast stop makes > me fall forward even more. I hit the joystick with my arm and off I go, > right off the curb. Good thing was I was going forward not sideways so no > tipping over. Plus my legrest hit the street and stopped my chair from going > further into the street. Bad news was my legrest hits the street and I make > a dead stop. No momentum to help me sit back up. > So I'm stuck half off the curb, tipped forward on my lap, with no phone. At > night not many cars drive by. Luckily I was there only about 3-4 minutes > when I heard loud taking in the school parking lot across the street. I > start yelling "CAN SOMEONE HELP ME" It took a minute of yelling before I > heard them yelling back that they were on there way over. A man and lady out > jogging. They were so nice, he was trying to sit me back up first, but was > so careful. Like he was going to break me. Then they were able to lift my > front wheels back up on the sidewalk. Then they asked if I needed them to > walk home with me :-) > > After 28 years, that was the first time going off a curb. Once my 5/6 year > old niece was on my lap driving and we went off our curb going fast, but it > is the curved/slopped kind. I go up/down them all the time, but I have to > tilt my back to go down it, then tilt all the way up to go up the curb, but > I do it very slow. > > Greg > >
