When Elias Gutierrez, riding in a wheelchair, was fatally struck last March by a motorist, it made Clayton Turner realize how little progress has been made since 1996. That was when Turner was hit by a car and nearly killed in the streets of Fresno while riding his wheelchair to his doctor's office. Turner, now 65, was on Clovis Avenue near Tulare Avenue in an area where no curb cuts exist.
Curb cuts allow wheelchair riders to roll onto a sidewalk.
I live in a neighborhood where at least 12 of my neighbors use wheelchairs. These people transport themselves in the street because there are no ramps and there are no curb-cut ramps. A lack of curb cuts near Palm and Cornell avenues was a significant factor in the death of Elias Gutierrez, said his daughter, Liz Gutierrez, who came from Danbury, Conn., this week to attend the Fresno Americans with Disabilities Advisory Council meeting Wednesday. She hoped to emphasize the need for curb cuts for the disabled. They have all told me stories of perils they face having to cross the street to just catch a bus.