I've shamelessly borrowed the title from an article in The Economist reporting that Vancouver is banning doorknobs in all new buildings.
The war on doorknobs is part of a broader campaign to make buildings more accessible to the elderly and disabled, many of whom find levered doorhandles easier to operate than fiddly knobs. Vancouver’s code adds private homes to rules already in place in most of Canada for large buildings, stipulating wider entry doors, lower thresholds and lever-operated taps in bathrooms and kitchens.More at the link, and at Legal Insurrection (whence the image).
The rules have provoked grumbling about the nanny state, much of it from doorknob manufacturers... True, elderly and disabled people find it easier to operate doors with handles. But so do bears... One newspaper columnist in the pro-knob camp has noted that the velociraptors in “Jurassic Park” were able to open doors by their handles.
I live in Vancouver. There are no bears in Vancouver. Plenty of old people, but no bears.
ReplyDeleteBut what about velociraptors?
DeleteWhen I was in the Army in Germany back in the early 1970's, we called the US of A "The Land of Round Door Knobs" since every doorknob we came into contact with was of the lever type. And let me tell you, that while the lever type doorknobs had (and have) advantages, we still missed them.
ReplyDeleteCanada is NOT the US of eh !!
DeleteThe barn where I used to work had a very nice, new lever doorknob on the "people door" when it was built. It had to be changed to a round knob shortly afterward because the horses discovered they could open it and get inside (where the food was).
ReplyDeleteWhat about raccoons? Those little buggers are everywhere.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm biased because my mom was just diagnosed with ALS and has already lost the use of her left hand and arm (except as a dead weight) but I think lever doorknobs are just as attractive and are easier to manipulate for not only elderly or disabled people but also those with arthritis or who just have their hands full. (If raccoons, horses, bears or velociraptors are a problem, perhaps another step could be added to the process for vulnerable or external doors (I don't know, maybe you have to slide a bolt or push a big button or two to make the lever work.)
ReplyDeleteDogs catch on to the lever knobs pretty quickly, too.
ReplyDeleteLurker111
We also have this in the U.S.A.-it is called A.D.A. Like many government programs, it is subject to much abuse. Businesses have been sued and put out of business because they couldn't afford all the modifications, like increased door sizes in a hundred year old building.
ReplyDelete