Templer contends one reason stairs are not as safe as they should be is that no federal agency takes serious responsibility for building safety. We're always off-balance, standing on one leg and then swinging the other leg forward and then regaining our balance. On a stair, we're going through this same cycle, where we're letting ourselves fall forward and then catching ourselves. It requires skill. You've got to be looking where you're going to make sure your feet continue to sort of mesh accurately with the steps.
Tempter likens the skill to hitting a ball with a bat.
Templer, however, believes the tread should be no less than 11 inches wide. But the National Association of Home Builders waged a sort of war to try to get them appealed. I really don't know why. Married for 38 years to Joan Templer, an artist and associate professor of visual communications at Georgia Tech's college of Architecture. Father of two grown children.