During the day of 29 December, 131 people have applied to city trauma centres in Lviv. This is a record number of appeals in December. All of them were injured by the ice that covered the city’s streets and sidewalks. In particular, 80 patients were treated at the 8th hospital. 51 residents applied to the Lviv Clinical Ambulance Hospital, and seven were hospitalized. This info was reported to Lviv Now by the press services of medical institutions.
And the winter pedestrian challenges come just as the city seeks to emphasize foot-traffic over car traffic. Read more: No Place for Drivers Here? Examining 7 Points from Lviv’s Mobility Plan
Among the most common injuries, doctors mention broken legs or arms, forearms, injuries of the ankle and knee ligaments, as well as multiple bruises of various parts of the body. However, according to doctors, this year there is not much excitement with the treatment of injured on the streets, compared to previous years.
Read also: Tips for winter pedestrian safety
In Lviv Now’s survey on Facebook, more than 700 Lviv residents said that yesterday, the streets and sidewalks near their homes were not sprinkled with salt, sand or reagents. Some said that the whole city turned into an ice rink. In particular, we are talking about the streets in the districts of New Lviv, Sykhiv, Levandivka and Kniahyni Olhy – Stryiska – Sakharova – Naukova, Horodotska, Shevchenka, Lysenka, Lychakivska, Nekrasova, Ivana Franka, Heroiv UPA, Fedkovycha, Konovaltsa, Volodymyra Velykoho, Chuprynky, the centre (Rynok Square, Mytna Square, Shevchenka Ave.), and many more streets.
«Nothing is enough for us yet, but we walked through the city centre yesterday – just awful. If you can still move more or less confidently on Rynok Square, you should be very careful on the surrounding streets: ice is everywhere, and there are no signs of falling,» – a Lviv resident Roman Krutyakov said.
«Solid skating rink. Leotovycha, Horodotska, Shevchenka to «Silpo» – barely reached and returned. Only the owners of shops near their establishments sprinkled. Nobody sprinkled the rest of the sidewalk,» – Larysa Gorelikova writes.
«From Antonycha, 20 and down to Kolomyiska – a skating rink. I don’t understand where tons of sand went,» – Nadiya Romanenko said.
«Nobody thought about the people of Lviv. The streets of the city are a continuous skating rink. It is impossible to walk or ride. Shame! What do we pay for? It seems that we live in a ruined village. I can imagine the situation in the trauma departments,» Maria Lozynska-Bohun wrote in her comments.
In general, Lviv residents complained about the poor condition of the streets, especially in the evening, many simply could not get home properly. At the same time, yesterday the Lviv City Council announced that they have already appealed to the heads of housing cooperatives, management companies, owners of private homes with a request to cover the areas with anti-icing materials – salt, sand, reagents.
In Lviv, on the other hand, the number of injuries due to ice is growing. About one and a half hundred Lviv residents have already applied to the trauma centres of the first territorial medical association of Lviv.
Yulia Osym
Translated by Vitalii Holich
You can read a Ukrainian language version of this story here.
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Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
