Wheelchair user suffers accident on pedestrian crossing, says Auckland Transport needs to improve city’s pavements

Sophia Malthus suffered several injuries due to her accident in Devonport. Photo / Dean Purcell

A young wheelchair user wants Auckland Transport to improve the city’s kerbs and pavements after she crashed out of her chair and suffered bruising and a chipped tooth.

Twenty-five-year-old tetraplegic Sophia Malthus was thrown from her wheelchair after her caster hit a brick while crossing Victoria Rd in Devonport on Friday.

“I went flying onto the pavement in front of The Patriot pub,” she said.

While two friends and several strangers jumped in to help her back up, the accident caused injuries.

“I’ve got wounds on my face, all over my hands, and scratches on my knees,” she said.

“My front tooth has been pushed back a little bit so I can’t really close my mouth now because it has collided with my bottom tooth, so my teeth don’t touch anymore,” she said.

“It feels like someone has taken a cheesegrater and taken the enamel off the tooth.”

Malthus, who was just 19 when a horse-riding accident left her paralysed, said pavements and kerbs can often be dangerous for those with accessibility issues.

“At the moment where I live, there is a kerb cut that is so dangerous for me to get up onto the path from the road, it’s safer for me to stay in the bike lane and go down the road until there is a safer kerb cut,” she said.

In a statement, Auckland Transport said it’s fully committed to ensuring the city’s transport network is accessible for all and has done a lot of work in this space over the past few years.

“It is extremely disappointing to hear about the instance raised, and we wish this person a speedy recovery,” it said of Malthus’ accident in Devonport.

“We are in the process of repairing footpaths in town centres and Devonport is planned for completion by the end of March. All hazards will be addressed as identified by a walkover between the Local Board, AT and the contractor.”

Other wheelchair users across the Auckland region have also said they face the same issues.

Mt Albert resident Vikki Wilson said her mother fell out of her wheelchair while Wilson’s sister was pushing her across New North Rd two years ago.

“It was coming off the kerb and onto the road. It’s the same issue as going off a kerb onto a very steep drop and then up high onto a mound where there are multiple layers of bitumen,” she said.

“People came over and helped mum into the wheelchair because she was completely incapacitated and couldn’t even put her hands out to save herself.”

Emma Cooper-Williams said she has found a way to navigate around physical obstacles, however, she can sometimes forget how many she may face during the day.

“It takes up so much time and mental space to find kerb cuts, mental space I would rather be using for something else.”

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board member George Wood also said unsafe pavements on the North Shore are a major issue.

George Wood has reported the unsafe sidewalk on Shakespeare Rd in Milford to the council twice.

He points towards underground work that causes pavements to lift up and create a 20cm to 30cm bump.

“It’s a situation where people in wheelchairs have to go over, hit them, and, can go over and be thrown onto their face.”

He said sometimes Auckland Transport will do a short-term repair, but, before long, it will be back to how it was.

“Putting temporary black asphalt repairs isn’t satisfactory,” he said.

Malthus said Auckland Transport should focus on the steepness, location, and camber of curb cuts, as well as the quality of pavements.

“It doesn’t just affect wheelchair users, but those on scooters, in prams, and segway. Anything that has wheels,” she said.

“I have to be in my wheelchair but I also have to live my life, so until these obstacles are fixed, I am forced to use a bike lane.”

Malthus’s aunt Victoria Carter said: “If we want disabled people to be able to live in our communities, we need to make sure that their pathways are safe.”