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By Stephanie Kusie

As a soccer mom, I am one of the four out of five Calgarians who use my car for driving to work every day and running most errands.

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I know that city hall’s new Step Forward pedestrian strategy would like me to choose walking as a mode of transport, and shift to a “culture of walking,” but it’s not very practical. I’m guessing most readers would share my frustration with city hall’s new pedestrian strategy.

As a resident of McKenzie Towne, it is not so easy to put on my walking shoes and head on down the Deerfoot. It is not possible for me to walk to my place of employment downtown. I could walk my son to school, but it would take close to half an hour, and we would have to cross through a busy traffic circle (and that is if the weather is agreeable enough). Both skating and swimming lessons mean another trip down the Deerfoot to Anderson Road — another almost impossible route for walking.

I know I’m not alone. Seventy-nine per cent of Calgarians are driving for “all-day, all-purpose trips” (errands as well as commuting), up two per cent from 2005, according to the city’s 2013 Monitoring Report.