Will the death of Malaysia Goodson finally lead to accessible city transport?
Last week, a mother died after falling down a set of subway steps carrying a baby buggy. Will it finally convince cities to improve access to transport?
I’m halfway down the footbridge, thunking my nine-month-old son from step to step like someone trying to hit ketchup out of a bottle. He starts to cry – a wheedling, disgruntled moan – so I take one hand off the buggy to stroke his face. In that moment he squirms, the buggy tilts and I get a flash, for a microsecond, of the drop, the concrete, the depth and the danger. For lack of a lift, a ramp or an assistant I could have lost the centre of my world.
Last week, Malaysia Goodson, a mother from Stamford, Connecticut, is believed to have fallen to her death while trying to get down a flight of stairs at the Seventh Avenue station in New York City while carrying her one-year-old daughter in a buggy. Goodson was found lying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs beside a tipped-up stroller. Her daughter, miraculously, was unharmed, but is now motherless. The authorities later said that it appeared her death was related to a pre-existing medical condition, however it has prompted demands to improve accessibility on the subway. The incident caused the mayor, Bill de Blasio, to state on Twitter: “The subway system is not accessible for everyone, and that’s an environment the [Metropolitan Transport Authority] should not allow.”
This is a heartbreaking tragedy that never should have happened. The subway system is not accessible for everyone and that’s an environment the MTA should not allow. https://t.co/X89fQep0LY
Related: What would a truly disabled-accessible city look like?
Source: Guardian Transport
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