There is a theory that a person’s moral compass may be judged by how they deal with shopping carts. Those with even a modicum sense of ethics and morality return them to the store or its corral. Those who leave them in the parking lot or steal them are immoral and unethical, and probably sociopaths who support Trump or PoiLIEvre. Back in 2020, I wrote about this theory, and quoted from a website that included this statement: “The shopping cart is the ultimate litmus test for whether a person is capable of self-governing.”
And another site I quoted had this comment: “[S]imple things can be a test of our character. When we do what is right when no one is looking. Our character is being strengthened. It builds a sense of integrity by standing for what is right and not operating mainly within the context of reward and punishment.” And don’t overlook the annoyance those carts cause for other drivers and store staff who have to retrieve them for you.
In other words: returning the cart means you’re acting like a responsible adult who gives a shit about others, not some puerile misanthrope who drives around with a “F*ck Trudeau” flag on their pickup and refuses to get vaccinated because it is woke or liberal or just considerate of others.
Since then, I have found two other “litmus test” behaviours that I believe can help measure the social rectitude of fellow travellers, both of which revolve around how they behave on sidewalks. The first I’ve mentioned before in my posts about the filthy, antisocial habit of smokers littering our streets and sidewalks with cigarette butts. Since most smokers are habitual and unrepentant litterers, I doubt there are any among them who could pass that litmus test.
The second has to do with snow. And those quotes above apply equally to snow removal.
In my community, the town plows the streets and sidewalks, doing a remarkably efficient job of clearing the accumulated snow quickly. But driveways and walkways, commercial premises, parking lots and so on are the responsibility of the owner or renter. And because we get a lot of snow every winter, residents have developed their own rituals and practices for snow-clearing. Some (like me) clear their own using shovels and snowblowers. Others hire a service to do it, using a variety of hardware, including pickup trucks with plow attachments; front-end and rear-end loaders of various sizes with plows or blowers; tractors with blower attachments. All are common on our streets during and after a snowfall.
Far too much of that removed snow ends up on adjacent sidewalks, creating hazards and challenges for anyone who walks on them. Given the number of seniors in our community, the number of dog owners and walkers here, the parents walking their children to and from school every day, clear sidewalks are important for safety and travel. Every day hundreds of people use the sidewalks in my neighbourhood. Walking on the streets, especially when the snowbanks line the sides, and far too many drivers speed well above the posted 30 km/h limit, can be very dangerous.
The little sidewalk plows the town uses seldom travel over any particular area more than once a day, so the snow thrown up later by residents or their removal services stays there until the next time the plow comes by (which may be days later). It’s an inconvenience for some, but a serious threat for anyone with mobility problems, or those who use walkers or canes for support.
That discarded snow gets packed down into hard lumps that can easily trip a pedestrian, and any mild spell or thaw can turn them into ice that is more treacherous to navigate on foot.
The Town of Collingwood has a bylaw (No. 08-156) that says,
Do not push, pile, or accumulate snow onto a roadway or sidewalk – This is a violation of the Highway Traffic Act and could have serious consequences.
Do not obstruct traffic or the view of traffic with piles of snow – snow shall not be pushed, piled or accumulated in a way that obstructs traffic or the view of traffic*
But every day, every year we see snow blocking sidewalks. And I have yet to see, hear, or read of anyone being warned about this practice, let alone getting a ticket for it. In fact, I suspect very few residents even know of the restriction because the town’s inadequate communication systems don’t keep people adequately informed about such things.
Other municipalities have similar and sometimes more robust bylaws, including Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa. they also have some steep fines for not clearing snow and ice. I was unable to find any reference to fines on Collingwood’s user-hostile website, but that’s not unusual: it isn’t designed for easy information access. However, the bylaw doesn’t mention them, so it’s like with the town’s lack of enforcement for speed limits: there’s no one watching and no penalties to be had for ignoring the rules.
Despite the snow we get here, and how much we’ve had this winter, council seems unaware of the issue, or at least I’ve never seen or heard it raised at the table in any meeting. I’m sure they have other more pressing things to deal with, like giving themselves a raise for hiking our taxes again. Which, of course, they did. Again. Every year since 2015. Maybe councillors don’t walk on our sidewalks, so they never encounter the problem. Or maybe they just don’t care about pedestrians. Given what they’re doing to make Sixth Street into a wider speedway for vehicles, that would appear rather more likely.
By the way, it is also illegal under the Highway Traffic Act to blow or shovel snow onto the road (another practice we have seen often here), and homeowners are required to clear the snow around any fire hydrant on their property under the provincial Fire Code. So where is the enforcement in Collingwood? As this Legal Matters site says, “Though homeowners can be fined for not clearing their sidewalks, the municipality is ultimately liable for most injuries that occur because of ice or snow on the sidewalk.”**
Collingwood deserves better.
Notes:
* Snow Removal – By-Law No. 08-156
No Person Shall:
2.1 Place or cause to be placed, ice or snow from private property or from a boulevard onto a sidewalk or traveled portion of a highway
2.2 Deposit, or cause to be deposited, ice or snow on a boulevard that is not adjacent to their property, including but not limited to the snow pushed or deposited across a roadway or highway
2.3 Pile, redistribute, or otherwise cause the accumulation of snow on a sidewalk or traveled portion of a highway, within a municipality, in such manner as to obstruct traffic, the view of traffic, or obstruct in any way the movement of snow clearing equipment under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department.
** From Dietrichlaw.ca: Liability for Personal Injury on Sidewalks, Parking Lots and Walkways
The Occupiers’ Liability Act requires all property owners, managers and occupiers to take reasonable steps to keep persons coming onto their property safe. So, if a person slips, falls and is injured on an icy or slippery sidewalk or parking lot, and the property owner didn’t take proper steps to clear the ice or snow within a reasonable time, the property owner may be held liable for injuries that were sustained due to the unsafe condition. However, businesses (such as stores, restaurants and office buildings) tend to be held to a higher standard than homeowners, in terms of having adequate procedures in place for dealing with snow and ice accumulation or other unsafe conditions that may arise on their property.
Municipalities are also expected to keep city-maintained properties safe and free of ice and snow, within the standards set out in the Municipal Act. This means that walkways and parking lots for hospitals, public recreation facilities, schools and bus stops need to be cleared and salted or sanded on a timely basis. And, if someone is seriously injured after slipping and falling on a property maintained by the City of Kitchener, Waterloo or Cambridge, the municipality may be found negligent and liable for any losses arising from the injury.
The standards for maintaining municipal sidewalks require the City to be ‘grossly negligent’ before the City will be found liable for personal injuries resulting from ice and snow on City-maintained sidewalks. A municipality may be deemed to have been ‘grossly negligent’ if the City does not have systems in place for clearing ice and snow from its sidewalks, or if the City should have reasonably known, or knew, that the sidewalk was slippery or icy but didn’t take reasonable actions to fix the slippery condition at the time of the accident.
In any circumstance where someone is injured as a result of a slippery road, walkway or parking lot, the injured person may have grounds to file a lawsuit against the property owner or municipality that was responsible for fixing the unsafe condition. Below are several civil actions that arose after a person was seriously injured and sued for damages.
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